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Payday Lenders Skirt Law Banning The Practice
By: Associated Press
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Payday lenders targeted by Ohio legislation that banned short-term, high-cost loans five years ago are skirting that crackdown by offering high-interest loans under other laws.
Some of the hundreds of storefront lending operations closed but others have exploited loopholes and provided loans under laws not written for such businesses.
Payday lenders say their services are needed. Critics contend it's a debt trap.
A spokeswoman for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio says leaders hope to resurrect a group of organizations that defended the payday lending law.
State lawmakers have been quiet on the issue in the three years since a bill to limit payday lender fees died in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The industry has contributed $465,000 to legislative campaign accounts since 2009.