NEWSLETTERS - Ohio congressman visits local rent-to-own

Ohio congressman visits local rent-to-own

For 10 years, UHR Rents Owner Ernie Lewallen has travelled to Congressman Steve Chabot's Capitol Hill office to educate him on the merits of the rent-to-own transaction.

Today, Chabot got first hand experience.

Rep. Chabot, who represents Ohio's 1st Congressional District, met Lewallen at his "Seven Hills" store outside Cincinnati late Monday morning.

Left to right: UHR VP Joel Ehrlich, general manager Dale Leifling, Rep. Chabot, UHR Owner Ernie Lewallen.

Chabot, a 7th term Republican who is a ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, voted for rent-to-own industry supported legislation in 2002.

The Congressman also holds  seats on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Chabot visited Lewallen's store for around 30 minutes, observing a number of routine transactions and interactions between store employees and customers.

"When I told him how highly we prized our relationships with our customers, and that in some cases those relationships went back three generations, his eyes lit up," Lewallen said. "If we didn't have good customer relations, we wouldn't have the customer base that we do. Overall it was a very positive visit."

Lewallen said Chabot left with a copy of his store's rental agreement and promised to review the information and make a decision about co-sponsoring H.R. 1767 -- the House version of the industry supported Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act.

So far this session, APRO members Mike Tissot, Robert Briley and Sandi Frye have hosted their respective Congress members in their stores and each Congress member has become a co-sponsor for H.R. 1767.

The House bill currently has 82 co-sponsors, 18 of whom were added since the conclusion of the APRO legislative conference in February. The companion bill, S. 1012 in the Senate, has 21 co-sponsors.

UHR Rents is a 10 store operation that serves over 3,500 in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

"I've had the opportunity to meet with Ernie Lewallen several times in Washington, D.C., but this was a great opportunity for me to see first hand how his business operates and to meet with a number of his employees," Chabot said. "Ernie's family has been serving customers for over twenty years and his once small business has now expanded to 10 locations around the Greater Cincinnati Area."

Lewallen encouraged other dealers to take advantage of the Congressional break this week and invite their local congress members in for a store visit.

mevans@rtohq.org