Tired of waiting for lawmakers to rein in payday loan interest rates, a retired Columbia pastor and other Missouri faith-based leaders are spearheading an effort to take the issue to voters.

A statewide group called Missourians for Responsible Lending has filed a ballot initiative proposal with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office that would ask voters to limit interest rates on payday, car title and other short-term loans to 36 percent. That’s the same rate at which the federal government caps loans to military families.

“We think it’s a good number for common, ordinary people as well,” said the Rev. Jim Bryan, who last year retired as pastor at Columbia’s Missouri United Methodist Church.

Lenders in Missouri typically charge $17 to $20 per $100 borrowed when a loan is first issued and each time it is renewed. The state allows a loan to be renewed as many as six times.

On average, Missouri payday lenders charge more than 400 percent on an annual basis. But the Community Financial Services Association of America — which represents more than half of the payday loan agencies in the country — says that’s a misleading figure because the loans are not issued on an annual basis. That percentage also is a smaller rate than can be charged when people bounce a check, pay credit card bills late or have to reconnect utilities for nonpayment, the association argues.

Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, has been calling for payday loan reforms since she took office, with little success. In the last session, the House approved a payday loan measure some considered protective of the industry and too weak. Two Missouri senators have said they plan to file a stronger payday loan bill next year, but Bryan’s not convinced a tough measure would get past industry lobbyists or payday loan supporters in office. He noted the chairman of the House Financial Institutions Committee, Rep. Don Wells, R-Cabool, is a former payday lender.

“We’re trying to get it on the ballot so that the people of Missouri are voting, not the legislators,” Bryan said.

Still said she thinks a ballot initiative is “a great idea because I’m convinced both Democrats and Republicans support this reform. … That’s why we have initiatives, so when legislators won’t do the right thing, voters can speak.”

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan on Tuesday afternoon approved the ballot language. Before the issue can be brought to voters in the November 2012 election, Missourians for Responsible Lending needs to collect signatures equating to 5 percent of the votes cast in the 2008 governor's election from six of the state's nine congressional districts. Those signatures have to be turned in by May 6, 2012.

Bryan said he thinks the group won’t have trouble finding people who want to sign.

“I think people generally think this is a sleazy outfit,” he said, referring to the payday loan industry. “Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right. I think they would welcome a simple way to rein this outrageous business in.”