If you use payday lending services in northwest Ohio, or have been following the headlines as a payday lending law is working its way through the Ohio legislature, be aware that Check Into Cash and Cash America have both recently announced plans to close their Ohio locations.

News coverage:

• Columbus Dispatch in Columbus.
• The News-Messenger in Fremont, Ohio.
• The Blade in Toledo.

The Columbus Dispatch also has an editorial today asking this question: “Where do the industry’s many customers turn for emergency cash?”

A snippet:

If conventional lenders and nonprofit organizations don’t fill the need for high-risk credit, people on the financial margins might turn to loan sharks and other illegal sources. Or they’ll suffer such consequences as penalities for bounced checks and late payments, utility cutoffs, loss of transportation and consequent loss of employment.

Or maybe … the payday lending customers will figure out how to manage their finances without such techniques – and have more of their money available to spend on necessities such as groceries, gas, medicine and car repairs.