paydayloanindustryblog.com

Check ’n Go payday lending chain said Tuesday that it will close about half of its Ohio stores over the next several months.

CNG Financial said it will close 36 of its 71 stores in the state, eliminating up to 75 jobs. The company didn’t specify which sites would be shut down, but a spokesman said closures would be based on lending volume.

The Cincinnati-based company has seven Central Ohio payday lending shops.

Sixty four percent of Ohio voters cast their ballots in favor of Issue 5, which supported a law capping interest rates for payday lenders at 28 percent a year. The payday lending industry fought a $13,000,000 battle to repeal portions of the law, House Bill 545, saying the interest rate cap and other limitations would drive many of them out of the state. Payday lenders tried in vain for a rate that allowed them to charge a 391 percent APR.

Texas-based Cash America (NYSE:CSH) announced that it would shut down 43 of its 140 shops in Ohio.

Remaining Check N Go stores will offer loans permitted under the Ohio Small Loan statute, as well as check-cashing services. CNG operates more than 1,300 Check ’n Go locations in 31 states.

Payday loan consumers in Ohio are expressing their fears about the future of the payday loan industry. They worry they will no longer have access to small dollar, no-hassle, no credit check payday loans in the future. They urge a VOTE NO on Issue 5!

Ohio payday loan ballot measure Issue 5, if passed will reduce allowed fees from $15 per $100 to $1.50 per $100. Should this occur, it’s estimated 6000 Ohio jobs will be lost, hundreds of thousands of Ohio payday loan consumers will be forced to use payday loan Internet web sites, the state of Ohio will lose tens of thousands of dollars in payday loan licensing and auditing fees, and commercial property owners who lease stores to payday loan companies.

One customer in a store in Heartland, Ohio on Friday said payday lending was there when he needed it.

On Aug. 19, Jim Hurley suffered a heart attack. While he was recovering, his bank account was overdrawn $21.

According to Hurley, his bank would have charged fees higher than a payday lending loan to cover the shortfall if the overdraft was not resolved quickly.

“I had to find a way to clear up my account fast,” he said.

Hurley went to a payday lender and was able to get his account back on positive footing.

“Places like these help when times are bad,” he said.

The Ohio ChillicoThe Gazette has several anecdotal payday loan consumer stories.

The payday loan initiative scheduled to be voted on in the November ballot is at risk of being left off the ballot.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she’ll appoint a hearing officer to decide if consultants hired to collect signatures to place the measure on the ballot properly filed the petitions.

Gov. Ted Strickland in June signed a law restricting the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent, and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.

The payday loan industry managed to collect 422,000 petition signatures to place their initiative on the November ballot.The ballot measure needs 241,000 signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties to qualify.

The payday loan measure will repeal the cap on interest, allowing lenders to charge roughly 400% APR’s depending on the term of the payday advance.

Parties supervising the collection of ballot signatures must file a Form 5 with Ohio that lists the names and addresses of signature gatherers and the names of their employers. Brunner’s office can’t seem to find evidence the form was filed by Arno Political Consultants, a California firm hired to collect a portion of its signatures.

This failure could result in having the payday loan measure deleted from the ballot.

Sec. of State Brunner will decide Sept. 25 whether to accept the signatures and allow the referendum to be placed on the ballot.