The Ohio Supreme Court today upheld the ability of payday lenders to avoid a law reforming short-term loans and, under another section of state law, continue making what critics denounce as predatory loans to low-income Ohioans.
A 2008 law restricted payday-loan interest rates to 28 percent and imposed a $500 maximum loan limit and minimum 31-day payback period to curb what consumer advocates attacked as abuses.
Payday lenders then began making short-term loans under another section of law, the Mortgage Loan Act, that contains no cap on interest rates and in which loan repayment can be demanded in a single lump sum.