Who Takes Campaign Contributions from Payday Lending Companies?

I am coming at this from the viewpoint that if an organization or person gives money to a candidate, they think their interests will be looked after. The popular version of this is that corporations and lobbyists give more money, so they are the ones listened to when it comes to any legislation concerning their businesses or industries.

Payday lending is no different. I was frankly surprised at who had taken money from the huge and small payday lenders alike. Democrats and Republicans. Even Independents. I just wonder what the interest is for the companies when the atmosphere here in Virginia is one of change one way or another.

There seems to be two schools of thought among the bills introduced this year. One is to modify the law to provide so-called safeguards to protect people from getting in over their heads with payday loans. The other is to cap the interest rate charged on such loans to a maximum of 36%. Richmond Sunlight

The safeguards, which have been tried in other states to no avail, include a database to determine if someone has too many loans out, or as a percentage of their monthly income. Also to check if they are habitual users of payday lending.

Doesn’t this needlessly add another layer of bureaucracy to our government to look out for the same people the payday lending companies say they are safeguarding (or would with new rules)? Why create a layer of so-called protection that costs all of us more to run the government? We as a society should do a better job of taking care to bring everyone along, at least at a survival level. These loans are shackles, and they do not help anyone other than the large companies that own them.

I am firmly for an interest-rate cap of 36%. If that law is good for every other lending company in Virginia, it should be good enough for these companies.

So without any further examination of my views, here are the lists and graphs of legislators who took money from payday lenders in the 2007 cycle. (data courtesy of VPAP)

(DISCLAIMER: This data was collected from a list of financial institutions. Not all companies are labeled as to whether they do engage in payday lending. The companies listed here are known to be payday lenders. See the VPAP and Richmond Sunlight links for more information about bills in the current legislature.)

Fig. 1: Number of individuals listed as taking Payday Loan money (By party)

Democrats – 60

Republicans – 79

Independents – 3

fig. 2: Total Donations to PACs/Candidates from Payday Lenders (by party)

Democrats – $273,746

Republicans – $217,500

Independents – $6,250

fig 3: Legislators/PACs who took money from Payday Lenders (top ten)

Fig. 4 – Payday Lender Companies that gave money to legislators and/or PACs

Fig. 5 – PAC Donations From Payday Lenders (By Party)

Fig. 6 – Candidate Donations from Payday Lenders (By Party)