On Election Day, I will be voting yes on Issue 5. A yes vote supports consumer protection legislation (House Bill 545) recently passed by the Ohio House and Senate. A yes vote means that I agree that the payday lending industry is in need of reform.
The Ohio Catholic Bishops have stated their support for initiatives that protect the working poor and all Ohio consumers from the spiraling indebtedness caused by payday lending. The Catholic Conference of Ohio believes House Bill 545 responsibly addresses this concern.
Today, many payday borrowers initially seeking one loan to tide them over until their next paycheck find
themselves unable to pay off their payday loan debt. Instead, they end up taking out loan after loan each pay period, stuck in a debt trap. The business model by payday lenders appears to encourage this cycle of debt and results in rates of 391% APR. The legislation passed by the Ohio Legislature would reduce the allowable APR to 28% and make other modifications in the law to protect consumers.
The payday lending industry argues that people use their product and services because they need it. I believe there must be a better way to provide needed credit than trap vulnerable consumers in a downward cycle of debt. House Bill 545 is a giant step toward doing just hat. That is why I am voting yes on Issue 5, and I ask that you do the same.
Filed under: Politics
Brian R Corbin's Reflections on Religion and Life 
Brian,
One of the first battles to reform payday lending happened when the Pentagon asked Congress to protect military families from abusive payday loans.
“Let me be clear. Payday lenders are not providing our Marines with a service. They are parasites, bottom feeders and scumbags.” –Quote from Major General Mike Lehnert, Commander of Marine Corp Bases (West)
Our nation’s top military officials have acknowledged that payday lending is a serious threat to the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for our nation. After years of complaints from base commanders and military credit counselors from around the country, the Defense Department asked Congress to cap payday loan interest rates, stating in an official report:
“Predatory lending undermines military readiness, harms the morale of troops and their families, and adds to the cost of fielding an all volunteer fighting force.”
As a result, Congress, with the support of Barack Obama and John McCain, adopted a federal interest rate cap and other protections on payday loans to military families to ensure the nation’s well-being.
Voting Yes on Issue 5 is a way to support extending those loan protections to all Ohioans.
Bill
I’ll be voting yes on issue 5! It’s time to end the payday lenders’ decade long exemption from Ohio’s usury laws. 391% APR does NOT amount to financial freedom! There are too many Ohioans trapped in debt for payday lending to continue in its current form. I’ll be voting to lower interest rates and end the debt trap for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans!
Vote yes on issue 5!
Bill,you fail to mention after the military ban on payday lending that the need didnt go away.The explosion of internet payday loans virtually unregulated and off shore happenend.People in the military were forced by so called advocates like you to get there short term loans from places like the cayman islands and Dubia.Issue 5 also puts Ohioans in a government controlled database.Since aug 1st over 92000 ohioans have had there personal information compromised in these flawed systems.Even Joe the plumber had his information stolen from a statewide Ohio database.MR Faith on November 4th Ohio will have your answer on this BIG BROTHER ISSUE, AND THAT ANSWER IS NO….VOTE NO ON 5 Darren
Unknowingly, the Catholic bishops are going to hurt the people they’re trying to help by advocating HB 545. (But what are they doing weighing in on a political issue anyway? Shouldn’t they focus on matters of religion?! Something is not right here.) And Mr. Faith (is that your real name?) what about the fact that your organization has spent thousands of taxpayer dollars in fighting Issue 5? That is illegal, my friend, and you will be held accountable. Ohioans are smart enough to make their own decisions and will vote NO on Issue 5!
Thanks to all for your comments. I am glad that your have weighed in on this moral issue.
To “Junior”…the Catholic Church has spoken about issues for many many many years (i.e. abortion). Economic justice is certainly a major topic that the Popes and the Bishops have weighed in on. Catholic social service agencies also see persons and families impacted by heavy indebtedness and work hard to help them become stabilized.
brian
Brian,I respect your thoughts,but this coalition spends almost 70% of there money donated by hardworking Ohioans on payroll.Some of these so called Advocates are pulling down six figures.Maybe you should lower there interest rates.This is deception at its most sleazey.Bill Faith and these guys are pulling the wool over your eye’s.Know who your in bed with my friend.VOTE NO ON ISSUE 5
Forget if you agree with pday loans or not- FOCUS on the fact that the Ohio General Assembly thinks they have the right to control what financial products are available to the citizens of Ohio. Big brother style.
Forget if you have used a PD loan or not– FOCUS on the fact that other consenting adults do and are capable of making their own decisions, based on their individiual situations. Who are we to say no, you can’t use that credit card? Or no you can’t use that bank?
Forget everything else — FOCUS on the fact that eliminating payday loans DOES NOT eliminate the need for short term financial options. I bet 99.9% of the OGA doesn’t have to worry about the day to day necessities the rest of are dealing with. They have insurance, pensions, well paying jobs.
Forget about the Pday loan argument — FOCUS on the controlling and spending of our household money by the state. Considering our current economic situation… I vote for less intrusion!! PLEASE let me manage my own darn $$ since the gov’t has shown they are not responsible, accountable or budget conscious. Ohio>> 60M in debt!!
Forget about the Pday loan side– FOCUS on what else the government is going to decide in the future (under the guise of “paternalism”) that we aren’t capable of handling as adults. Restricting how much can be spent on food? alcohol? cigarettes? housing? gambling? clothes?
FOCUS on the fact that the OGA is intruding on our personal financial decisions… where does it stop?? Why do they think they know better what will work for us than we do? We live it every day!!!
The Issue of 5 is waaaay bigger than PD Loans >> its about Financial Freedom of Choice, which I consider to be a BASIC FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT!
***NO on ISSUE 5!****
10/27/08 NEW YORK “Fees for bounced checks and withdrawing cash from an out-of-network ATM rose again this year, according to a survey released Monday by Bankrate.com. The average cost of using another bank’s automated teller machine is now $3.43, up 13 percent from last year. A bounced check costs an average of $28.95, up 2.5 percent from a year ago, according to the survey.” (AP)
A PD loan is $15 per $100 borrowed, so MUCH cheaper than paying a bounced check fee of $28.95!!
NO on 5
The coalition of which Darren speaks is a one dedicated to promoting affordable housing and ending homelessness. They are being vastly outspent by the payday lending industry, approximately 60 to 1. The payday lending lobby has already spent nearly $16 million to convince Ohio voters that 391% APR amounts to financial freedom. Tell that to the borrower who has to go to one payday lender to pay off one and another to pay off another and another to pay off another, etc. That’s not financial freedom, it’s the deliberate and profit maximizing debt trap that payday lenders seek! Vote Yes on Issue 5! It’s time to end predatory lending in Ohio!
Interesting info about COHHIO—
5/13 press release
Bill Faith and his Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) are actively lobbying to ban payday lending in Ohio. While putting
payday lenders out of business means the loss of 6,000 jobs and hundreds of millions in total loss to Ohio’s economy, Bill Faith and COHHIO seem to make their own compensation, most of it provided by taxpayers, their top priority.
Under the guise of advocacy on behalf of the low-income people of Ohio, Faith has publicly “admitted it was his intention to put these payday lenders out of business.” Faith’s six-figure salary (100k+) is nearly eight percent
of COHHIO’s total revenue.
Here are the facts about COHHIO:
******– COHHIO spends more money on salaries than it does on programs to help
low-income people;****
— In 2006, of the $1,352,631 in total revenue, less than one-third
($420,838) was spent on programs. $529,568 was spent on salaries. According
to Give.Org, a group that sets guidelines for charities, a group should
spend at least 65% — not 32% — of its expenses on programs.
What a bunch of hypocrites!!
Vote NO on Issue 5!!!
I think it would be important to stick to pay day lending issues.
Thanks for voting yes on Issue 5! The pay day industry needs to be regulated, and this is the right way to do it. They prey on the most vulnerable people and we can’t let them do that anymore.
Yes on Issue 5!
I agee we should stick to the issue, not vent personal grudges. I simply want to add that if the payday lending industry had acted more responsibly in the first place, the legislation in question would probably never have been passed. Even legislators with a “free market” focus came to realize that the negative consequences of payday lending (as it was being operated) were too harmful to ignore.
I’m voting yes! And it looks like I also was attacked with Casey’s nonsense. http://vindy.com/weblogs/reason/2008/oct/29/whats-on-the-ballot/
“Here are some details of Fifth Third banks’s payday lending “alternative.”
TERMS:
� Credit limit is based on total of monthly direct deposits (maximum of $500 or half of total monthly direct deposits-whichever is less).
� Fee is $1 per $10 borrowed
The APR varies greatly based on the loan term, ranging anywhere from 3,650% to 104% APR.”
WHAT?????!!! So now banks are allowed to offer a product that charges MORE than PD loans?? WHY IS THAT OK? 3650 PERCENT? Are you kidding me??? How insane. WOW– this is surely a wonderful alternative to a PD loan— UHHHH NOT SO MUCH!!
Umm, Bill Faith and COHHIO– where’s the outrage about this?? Where’s the push to eliminate these types of loans and ridiculous APRs? Where’s the proposal to stop this kind of greed?
Rather ironic but no one seems to really care about how Banks conduct business and what they charge. How incredibly sad for Ohio and it’s citizens…..