Issue 5 is a voter referendum on a house bill (HB 545) passed earlier this summer that addresses predatory lending and loan sharking tactics used by the payday loan industry operating in Ohio. A yes vote on Issue 5 will confirm consumer protection laws under HB 545, reducing annual interest rates on short-term payday credit from 391 percent to 28 percent and providing new rules which aid borrowers in the repayment of these loans.
I see a lot of arguments being made by the industry that are nearly verbatim quotes from Al Capone, noted organized crime gangster of the prohibition era. The payday loan industry is not looking out for the people. I wish this cartoon was a libelous gross exaggeration of their arguments against Issue 5, but it’s basically a copy-and-paste job from their distributed literature.
If you’re in Ohio, vote YES on Issue 5.