I Fully Support Ohio Bill 545

Thank you, Representative Widener.

Thank you, Representatives Koziura, Batchelder, Budish, D. Stewart, Boyd, DeBose, Driehaus, Dyer, Foley, Garrison, Gerberry, R. Hagan, Letson, Luckie, Lundy, Newcomb, Peterson, Skindell, Stebelton, Sykes, Wagner, Widowfield, and Yates.

Thank you, Senators Jacobson, Cafaro, Roberts, D. Miller, Fedor, and R. Miller.

The people of Ohio spoke and you responded.

Thank you to the government of Ohio for a job well done. The day that this bill is presented to Governor Strickland and signed into law should be declared an official Ohio holiday. We will finally be rid of these scum sucking leaches. And not one bounced check fee, garnished paycheck, or bankruptcy too soon.

For those of you who oppose 545:

The Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) was created in 1999. Their duty is to encourage accountability within the cash advance payday loan industry. They also promote regulations and legislation that provides cash advance payday loan customers with consumer protection. The CFSA also maintains the consumer's access to cash advance payday loans. All CFSA member companies are required to display the CFSA member decal in all store locations as well as make CFSA brochures available to all loan customers.

Looks great on paper, doesn't it? Except for one thing, the CFSA Board of Directors is in reality comprised of the cash advance payday loan industry leaders. The irony here is this: The Community Financial Services Association's job is to act in the best interest of the consumers who are doing business with cash advance payday loan companies. The CFSA is run by the same cash advance payday loan companies that the consumers are being protected from.

Our military men and women are protected. One of the provisions of the FY 2007 Military Authorization Act makes it illegal for creditors to grant payday loans and car title loans to military members. The military is being protected; why not everyone else?

When those customers do not buy back their check when they are supposed to you either A: Call their bank and see if the money is available. If it is you run to the bank to get it before they can get to it. Or B: Deposit the check whereby creating the overdraft fee that the customer was trying to prevent in the first place.

I understand exactly what the 28 percent will do. In this business, your P&L is built around how much you collect in fees. I even completely agree that 391 percent is an inaccurate comparison. However, because it is a lending institution and governed under the FDIC and you have to use the TILA, by law it has to be represented as an APR. I understand that in reality it is $15 per every hundred. The proposed bill may be over the top and harsh. Unfortunately, had the greed of the industry not gotten out of control, it never would have been necessary.

The business model is self-serving. The fact that your P&L is built around the fees that you collect is self-serving. The fact that employee bonuses are directly connected to what you collect in fees is self-serving. The fact that the CFSA parades itself as an advocacy group for the customers of payday loan establishments is self-serving. The fact that the CFSA board of directors is in fact comprised of the payday loan industry leaders is self-serving.

You keep telling yourself that what you are doing is morally right. At minimum, 75 percent of this job is collections because you know upfront that a great many of these people will default on the loan. I do not want to hear about how it is a personal choice. The payday loan industry refuses to police itself. You left the government no choice but to do it for you.