Payday Lobby's Sham Continues

The payday lobby, a.k.a. Ohioans for Financial Freedom, has released a new ad with a woman and her two sons, claiming she really needs her 391% payday loan if one of her sons gets sick. Ohio's largest newspapers give this ad a '2' on the truthfulness scale. You can read their review of the commercial here: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/08/ohioans_for_financial_freedom.html.

With a '2' from Ohio's newspapers, the ad probably gets a 10 on Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" scale. The payday lobby has spent $377,943 from August 8th to August 12th on their half-truth 'farmer' ad (a 0 on the truthfulness scale). So, in just a few days they are averaging roughly $100,000 per day in advertising to con Ohio voters into sign their referendum petitions.

An interesting pattern emerges:

The payday lending industry is misleading.

The payday loan product is misleading

The payday lobby's advertisements are misleading

The payday lobby's petition summary language is misleading

And now, the November ballot language is misleading.

Yesterday, the Ohio Ballot Board made its decision regarding the ballot language for November, clouding the issue for voters in the months ahead. The payday lobby gets the a 'No' vote on the ballot and the payday lending reformers get the 'Yes' vote. Given what we've learned about the depths to which the industry is willing to deceive voters, we can only expect more of the same.

Despite their efforts to cloud the issue, the facts will remain the same. Over 300,000 Ohioans remain caught in the debt trap while the payday lobby tries to buy back 391% interest rates. Is 391% too high? Yes.

VOTE YES FOR PAYDAY LENDING REFORM! VOTE YES ON ISSUE 5!