Ohio House Bill 545

I laughed when I saw this sign on North Reynolds Rd. in Toledo this evening.  An article in the Dayton Business Journal states that Ohio House Bill 545:
would cap annual percentage rates on payday loans at 28 percent, extend the repayment period to 31 days from 14 days and cut the maximum loan amount to $500 from $800.   Representatives of the state’s 1,638 payday lending shops have said the House measures would kill the industry, particularly with the percentage rate caps. Payday lenders can charge up to $15 per $100 loaned over a 14-day period, which converts to an annualized 391 percent. Instituting a rate ceiling at a fraction of the current maximum, as H.B. 545 and two other bills have proposed, would cap fees at a few dollars per $100.
I wasn’t surprised to see this Cashland branch is opposed to House Bill 545 because they stand to lose significant profits.  However, just who are they attempting to appeal to with this sign?  I hope it’s not regular people that use these payday loan businesses.  It would be pretty difficult to find a consumer that would side with the payday loan business if the benefits of the bill were fully explained to them.
The objections of the payday loan industry basically state that this bill will cause many of these businesses to close thereby putting 6,000-7,000 Ohioans out of work.  That and:
“It does nothing but drive an already regulated business out of business,” Lisa Ferguson, spokeswoman for CheckSmart Financial Co., which has 90 payday lending shops in the state said. “This choice for thousands of Ohioans will be gone and it will push consumers to unregulated means of borrowing.”
Umm, sure, I guess that’s true, but it seems that the pros outweigh the cons in this instance.  The biggest pitfall of doing business with one of these payday loan places, besides the exorbitant interest rates charged, is that if the person doesn’t have the money now, are they really going to have it in 14 days when the loan is due?  Usually the consumer isn’t in any better monetary position at that point and what starts is a viscious cycle of going to another payday loan place to get money to pay off the first loan they took out.