Explanation
Title
Columbus City Council urges the Ohio General Assembly to adopt legislation to protect all Ohio residents from unfair lending practices and support the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending.
Body
WHEREAS, Ohio working families pay over $300 million in excessive fees every year, as payday lenders across the state routinely flip small cash advances into long-term, high-cost loans with an APR up to 391 percent; and
WHEREAS, The AVERAGE payday borrower is getting 12 or 13 payday loans per year, putting them in a financial debt trap; and
WHEREAS, Due to repeat lending of 13 loans over the course of a year the average payday borrower pays $637 to borrow $328; and
WHEREAS, Payday lending traps 318,000 Ohio families annually in a cycle of chronic borrowing, as over half of payday revenues are extracted from borrowers who take out an average 12 or 13 loans per year; and
WHEREAS, The Coalition for Responsible Lending seeks to make fair and just lending practices by small lenders a reality for all Ohio cities; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. That Columbus City Council opposes the unfair lending practices within the payday loan industry in the State of Ohio.
Section 2. That Columbus City Council urges the Ohio General Assembly to adopt legislation to protect all Ohio residents from these unfair lending practices by establishing a rate cap for payday and small loan lending at an APR of 36% or less and other measures to break the cycle of chronic borrowing payday lending creates.
Section 3. That Columbus City Council supports the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending and its goals and endorses its campaign for just legislation.
Section 4. That the City Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Resolution to the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending and the Franklin County delegation to the Ohio General Assembly.