A report issued by nonprofit groups, Policy Matters Ohio and the Housing Research and Advocacy Center , put the number of payday lenders in the state at 1,638 in 2007, up 5 percent from the year before. Payday lenders make short-term loans of up to $800 at interest rates critics say are too high and can trap borrowers into a cycle of taking multiple loans in an effort to repay them. Opponents of the shops say the 15 percent interest rates on two-week loans amounts to an annualized 391 percent, and they are pushing Ohio lawmakers to lower rates and ease other terms of the loans. Payday lenders argue that making terms unattractive to lenders would force some to cease operations and leave borrowers that have no access to bank accounts struggling for cash. The report ends by recommending the state follow earlier federal protections for military families by capping annual percentage rate maximums for the industry at 36 percent, a measure also proposed in the Ohio House of Representatives through House Bill 333. read more

Filed in: Cash Day Advance