Due to new rules permitting political campaign contributions by large firms in the US, instant cash loan providers have begun to throw their political weight around by voting with their chequebooks – and they’re voting for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The United States originated the concept behind payday advance lending, where consumers pay a high interest rate on unsecured short term loans against their next pay date. The practice, which has spread across the Atlantic to wreak havoc here at home, has become big business, even though US lawmakers seek to regulate the industry as tightly as they can in order to preserve the financial safety of vulnerable Americans, and now the owners of these payday lending firms are becoming more politically active in order to further their interests.
The largest contributions being made to the US political process, where election year politics and fundraising are in full swing, have been acting as a reinforcement of the age-old belief that big business is out to get the little guy. Lenders have been donating millions to the political action committee of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in the hopes that his election would lead to a lessening of federal regulations on their industry.
Small-scale payday lenders are digging deep, such as James Marchesi, the president and owner of a Las Vegas payday lending firm trading as Check City, who donated $25,000 USD (£15,745). The owner of one title loan company, Rod Aycox, made a massive $200,000 USD (£125,960) donation to the super PAC as well, in the hopes that if Romney wins his bid for election that his administration will look kindly on businesses who offer high interest loans to consumers.