Another payday-lender bill introduced in Ohio legislature

Nearly nine years after state lawmakers passed a crackdown on payday loan businesses and voters upheld that law, people are still borrowing from quick-cash lenders, and they’re still charging huge interest rates. And now another proposal to regulate the industry is back before legislators. A Pew Charitable Trusts study of the industry in Ohio from December found 1 in 10 adults has taken out a payday loan from among the more than 650 quick-cash lenders operating here – and charging interest rates up to 591%, the highest in the nation. Rep. Michael Ashford (D-Toledo) and Rep. Marlene Anielski (R-Walton Hills) had been working on the House bill, but Anielski dropped her name from it, saying she needed to focus on a suicide prevention bill.