John Curry to Ron Lederman re: article on payday lenders, 'Lawmakers will do the deciding for us'

From John Curry, July 13, 2008

Mr. Lederman,

In reference to your Lima News article re. payday lenders (Lawmakers will do the deciding for us) : Were you aware that HB 545 (now O.R.C.) included a provision for banks and other lending institutions to provide small short-term loans as now addressed in Section 135.68?

I find your statement, "To be sure, some people aren't capable of making these decisions. Most of the rest of the nation calls them children. Ohio lawmakers call them constituents," somewhat amusing.

You might remember that the next time you go to the filling station and buy 20 gallons of gasoline and are guaranteed that the pump is really selling you 20 gallons as it, by law, was mandatorily inspected by your county's government and.... your stop for burgers insured you of safe meat as the U.S.D.A. (once again) mandatorily inspected it. Your trip for burgers and gas was accomplished on D.O.T. approved (for safety, your safety) tires and your brakes and window glass also had to meet federal safety inspections. All of those, as well as payday lender regulations, were done for your and my well-being and safety. You seem to forget that the public deserves their government to be responsible for the well-being of the public.

I suppose that if you don't like the government looking out for your well-being, and that of the public, you could always buy a horse for transportation and pack your lunch with home-grown vegetables and home-butchered meat...then you'd eliminate a lot of those meddlesome and intrusive laws, wouldn't you?

John
Wapakoneta

Lawmakers will do the deciding for us

By Ronald Lederman Jr. (photo)

LimaOhio.com, July 11, 2008

Those pesky people in the payday loan industry just won't let it go. How do they expect success from Ohio's bipartisan effort to rescue irresponsible people if they keep interfering with the dictates of state lawmakers?

Those payday lenders seem hung up on the idea that people should be free to borrow money based on their needs, abilities and circumstances. Don't they see that Ohio Republicans and Democrats decided for us? Lawmakers have been busy of late penning columns about the freedoms of being American - they have July 4 on their calendars, too - but they're sure to get around to keeping greedy bankers from taking advantage of us dumb Ohioans.

The payday loan industry isn't willing to wait. Ohio Attorney General Nancy Hardin Rogers last week approved language for a petition drive to repeal the state's ban on payday lending. A bipartisan effort cracked down on payday lending, capping interest rates at 28 percent a year and limiting people to four such loans each year. As things stood, the $15 charge per $100 borrowed would amount to 391 percent annual interest, provided a person kept the loan alive for an entire year.

Paying almost $400 in interest for a $100 loan is such a bad idea that lawmakers don't trust you to avoid doing so. Instead, lawmakers from both parties and Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland protected everyone from the bogeyman of what if by taking away the one borrowing option some people had. (No one ever came forward with a story of paying 391 percent, but it was mathematically possible, so we got legislation to kill 6,000 jobs as Ohio suffers one of the nation's worst economies.)

So you're short on cash and you're unlikely to qualify for a traditional loan, particularly for a couple hundred dollars as credit is tightening. Our lawmakers are helping you plan for the next time this happens, whatever bind it leaves you in now. Your dentist will understand you don't have the money. The kids can skip a meal or two. The electricity will come back on when you have the money.

Since everyone plans for the emergencies that drove some people to seek the short-term loans, such tough love is needed. Remove the one out some people had for situations they didn't see coming - we call those emergencies - and what choice is there but to plan for the situations for which no one plans?

You see the favor state lawmakers have done you. Unfortunately, the payday loan industry doesn't. These same busybodies no doubt would object to our honorable state representatives passing laws that use force to help us eat healthier or exercise more often. Why do we elect these people if we're not going to trust the individual decisions they make for each of us?

To be sure, some people aren't capable of making these decisions. Most of the rest of the nation calls them children. Ohio lawmakers call them constituents.

And perhaps voters will have to finish the job of protecting us from ourselves that lawmakers started. Once that happens, you'd expect lawmakers to place similar restrictions on banks. Such a move isn't likely to come from this area's state lawmakers, however, as Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, was the only one to vote against his campaign theme of less regulation.

That $15 on a $100 loan is less than half the overdraft fee some banks charge. Ohio lawmakers couldn't have been protecting the banking industry, so who do you suppose will move to restrict banks from charging stiffer fees for essentially the same type of borrowing?