A group is taking another swing at getting an issue on the ballot that would cap payday loan interest rates. The initiative was delayed after the attorney general’s office rejected the first set of petitions.
Ohioans for Payday Loan Reform say they’ve looked over all the comments provided by the attorney general’s office and they’re confident that their revised petition language will be accepted.
The measure would cap interest rates of payday loans at 28 percent and close any loopholes. The group’s Carl Ruby is confident if they can get it on the ballot, voters will pass it.
“People are relatively familiar with it; they’re frustrated that they voted on this and what they approved hasn’t been effective, so they’re eager to see something that works," Ruby says.
Voters approved a cap in 2008 but the industry has used other avenues to raise the interest rates. Payday lenders say this proposal, which is also in a House bill, would wipe out their storefronts in Ohio. Ruby says that’s not true.
