Advance Financial
 | |
 Advance Financial Store | |
| Company type | Privately Held Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Payday loans |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
Area served | United States |
| Website | Official website |
Founded in 1996, Advance Financial is a high-interest payday lender based in Nashville, Tennessee.
The company offers high-interest payday loans, offering up to $4,000 at 279.5% interest.[1] The company has filed over 110,000 lawsuits against its borrowers.[1] The company is one of the top campaign donors in Tennessee, lobbying regulators to loosen restrictions on payday loan activities.[1]
History
[edit]The company, then-called Advance Pay Day, was established by Michael and Tina Hodges in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1990s, offering payday loans.[1] By 2010, Advance had approximately two dozen stores and generated $15 million in revenue.[1]
After the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which sought to limit predatory payday loan practices, Advance created a political action committee and hired lobbyists to lobby Tennessee politicians.[1] Tennessee legislators subsequently passed a bill, signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam, to loosen restrictions on high-interest payday lenders.[1] Following this, Advance's business boomed, with the company expanding to 105 locations by the end of the 2010s.[1] By 2019, the company self-reported earnings of $392 million.[1]
The Hodges have donated over $3 million to Donald Trump's presidential campaigns.[1] In a 2019 recording uncovered by The Washington Post, Michael Hodges said those donations gave him better access to Trump.[1] In 2020, the Trump administration appointed a new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who rescinded many payday loan regulations.[1]
Associations
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2020) |
Advance Financial is a member of several trade organizations including Community Financial Services Association of America,[2] Financial Service Centers of America[3] where the founders, Mike & Tina Hodges[4] serve on the board of directors[5] and Online Lenders Alliance.[6]
Some of Advance Financial's offerings, including payday loans, have been described as "exploitative financial products to the working poor," since the short-term loans carry annual interest of up to 450%.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Friedman, Adam (2025-05-05). "This Lender Said Its Loans Would Help Tennesseans. It Has Sued More Than 110,000 of Them". ProPublica. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
- ^ CFSA. "CFSA > CFSA Member Best Practices". cfsaa.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ "FISCA | FiSCA Best Practices". www.fisca.org. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ "Tips from Married Business Owners". Small Biz Daily. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ "FISCA | FiSCA Board of Directors". www.fisca.org. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ "Best Practices". OLA. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ "Payday Lenders Gave Trump Millions. Then He Helped Them Cash in on the Working Poor". Retrieved 2024-03-29.
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- American companies established in 1996
- Financial services companies established in 1996
- Financial services companies of the United States
- Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee
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- 1996 establishments in the United States
- 1996 establishments in Tennessee
- Companies established in 1996