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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Critics: Payday Lending a “Debt Trap” for Ohioans

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Thursday, August 23, 2007   

Columbus, OH - Payday lending is coming under fire in Ohio, with growing calls for lawmakers to regulate the industry. Tom Allio, with the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, says the lenders offer quick and easy loans, but a growing number of Ohioans consequently face rapidly escalating debt, with fees that amount to annual interest rates of almost 400 percent.

"We really view the payday loan industry as just as predatory as the sub-prime lending has been. They catch people in what we call a 'debt trap' from which, in many cases, they are not easily able to escape."

Allio feels state lawmakers should cap annual interest rates at 36 percent, the same standard applied by Congress to payday lenders in their dealings with members of the U.S. military. The payday lending industry opposes wider regulations, citing a high demand for its services.

Allio sees the situation in Ohio as especially dire because payday loans may spike as a result of the foreclosure crisis created by subprime mortgage lending. He says lawmakers finally stepped in to regulate predatory mortgage lenders and, in the same way, he hopes they'll work quickly to limit payday lending. He believes lawmakers should consider giving incentives to banks and credit unions to meet short-term lending needs, with better interest rates.


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