The Ohio House on Thursday approved legislation capping interest rates on short-term loans, a measure that had languished for more than a year.
The measure was approved on a vote of 71-16, a day after a weeks-long impasse ended inthe election of a new Speaker. Republican former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger resigned in April amid an FBI probe into his lavish lifestyle and international travel that included trips involving payday lending lobbyists. The bill prohibits charging more than 28 percent interests plus monthly fees of 5 percent on the first 400 dollars loaned, or a maximum of 20 dollars. Monthly charges can't exceed 5 percent of a borrower's gross monthly income. An earlier Ohio law imposed the same interest-rate cap, but lenders found loopholes to get around it. Payday reform proponents called the bill significant and long overdue.
