For years, the country's makeshift network of payday lenders and check cashers has o

[cashlenders]

Amie looks like the kind of Ohioan that payday-lending opponents are trying to protect. As she stood in line on a recent afternoon at CheckSmart on Dublin-Granville Road, the 47-year-old mother of six said she was there to pay off a $500 payday loan and immediately get another one. She is accustomed to the process, having taken out and paid back the two-week loans repeatedly for the past year.

When she didn't have enough to cover her bills, the loans started at about $300. Now they have grown to $500, which come with a fee of up to $75 if she immediately cashes the check in the store. In recent weeks, she has started taking out additional payday loans from another company.

"I'm a mom of six kids, and it's hard," she said. "What I'm getting paid is not enough."
Payday-lending opponents would argue that Amie is caught in a debt trap, where she must repeatedly get new loans to pay off the old ones, owing a fee each time and digging herself into a deeper hole.

But Amie has nothing negative to say about CheckSmart, and has no interest in seeing legislation that may shut down the store.

"I can't complain. At least they're helping me," she said.

Such is the dilemma facing state lawmakers who are again debating whether to clamp down on the interest rates charged by short-term lenders -- a move lenders say will put them out of business.

Critics say the loans, with triple-digit annual interest rates, are toxic products. But industry supporters say many of those who take out the loans say they like the service, which provides quick cash with relatively little hassle.
Some say banks push people into the high-interest loans by hitting customers with fees for services like "overdraft protection," and charging $25 or more every time a debit card is swiped.

"The only reason these folks are in existence is because the banks and other lending institutions aren't doing their jobs," said Rep. Joseph F. Koziura, D-Lorain, chairman of the House
Financial Institutions Committee.

"The system is built on making money on fees now instead of the old-fashioned loaning money and putting money in the system. That's 90 percent of the reason we're screwed up."

Ted Saunders, CEO of CheckSmart, said he wants customers to compare his product to their other choices.
"There is a bank right there," he said, pointing to a bank about 100 yards across the parking lot from his store. "They could go right there if they wanted to."

Meanwhile, customers flow into his store in a steady stream.

"This is like a lifesaver at times," said Cheryle, 52, after getting a $500 loan. She has been coming to the store on and off for more than a year, and recently, after seeing her paycheck reduced because of an injury, she's been taking out and paying off loans every two weeks.

"I don't have a choice but to come here. I have a child to take care of and bills to pay," she said. "I get very good service here."

Neither she nor Amie wanted to give a last name.

Standing nearby, Saunders prides himself on operating stores that are as inviting and easy to use as possible for his customers. "We will not have a customer leave the store confused about the financial transaction," he said.
Lawmakers tried to limit payday-loan interest rates last year to 28 percent, and it was affirmed overwhelmingly by voters last November despite a $19 million campaign by the payday industry. About half of the state's 1,600 payday lenders have shut down in the past 18 months.

However, stores have avoided the 28 percent interest-rate cap in the new law simply by changing lending licenses.
Lenders also can't charge an automatic $15 per $100 borrowed, but they can charge a variety of fees that equal the same rate.

At CheckSmart, for example, a $400 loan comes with a $15 origination fee, $10 credit-verification fee, plus about $4 in interest. Then, instead of issuing cash, CheckSmart now issues checks that, if cashed immediately in the store, include a charge of up to $31 on that $400 loan -- for a total fee of $60, same as under the old law.
"No one will ever pay more than they did before," Saunders said. "We will not treat our customers that way."
The latest bill up for debate in a House committee would cap interest at 28 percent for all loans of up to $1,000 made for a term of three months or less. Saunders said it would mean a quick death for his company.
Koziura said he plans a committee vote on the bill in early December.
"The mob used to give better rates than these guys," he said.

Asked about customers who say they like the payday-loan product, Bill Faith, a veteran housing advocate and leading payday critic, said people at one point also were excited about high-interest subprime mortgage loans that helped ruin the housing market.

"So many people are living so close to the edge, they are only thinking about right now," he said. "They don't think about the long-term consequences."