How Payday Loans Cooperate With and Serve Ohio's Public

Payday loans BENEFIT Ohio

Ted Saunders, CEO of Checksmart Financial Company, has something good to say about cash advance in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer. Saunders’ editorial is a response to a previous article in which the newspaper claims that payday lenders are sidestepping existing laws in their efforts to serve the public. Rather than resorting to sensationalism, Saunders responds with the facts.

“The landscape in Ohio is largely one controlled by traditional banks — banks that extract significantly higher fees than state-licensed lenders,” he says.  Then he points out the clear horror involved in overdraft protection, which is the bank’s product of choice to replace payday loans. This comes courtesy of a recent FDIC study (November 2008): “overdraft per-transaction usage fees ranged from $10 to $38, and the median fee charged was $27. . . . In this context, a $27 fee charged for a single advance of $60 that was repaid in two weeks roughly translated into an APR of 1,173 percent.”

1,173 percent! Yikes!

Saunders also makes it clear that lenders were encouraged by the Ohio legislature to work within the guidelines of current laws. By following the Small Loan Act, that’s exactly what lenders are doing. Yet the Plain Dealer criticizes them for it. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "How Payday Loans Cooperate With and Serve Ohio's Public"