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The Statehouse News Bureau provides educational, comprehensive coverage of legislation, elections, issues and other activities surrounding the Statehouse to Ohio's public radio and television stations.

Payday Lending Industry Opposes Senate's Changes To Bill

Ohio Senate Finance Committee listens to testimony in response to the changes made to HB123, a bill to implement tougher regulations on payday lenders.

The Ohio Senate is introducing changes to a payday lending crackdown that passed the House by a big margin. Supporters of the legislation say it will help shutdown predatory lending and a cycle of debt. The Senate's changes raise the maximum payday loan amount to $1,000. The bill also caps the principal and fees on those loans at 7% of the borrower’s monthly income, and says total costs, meaning fees and interest rates, cannot be more than 60% of the original loan.Ted Saunders is CEO of Community Choice Financial, the parent company of CheckSmart. He says the changes end up hurting the payday lending industry while favoring credit unions.“You notice there’s no prohibition on charging customers any other fees if you’re a banker credit union but I’ve noticed in here that I as a licensed check casher if I want to deliver this loan in the form of a check I’m capped at $10 why me?” says Saunders.Supporters of the original, tougher bill, say they’re ok with these changes and still want to see the legislation move forward.The Ohio Senate plans on voting the billout of its chamber on Tuesday. Copyright 2018 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

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