 | |
 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-interestpayday lender based inNashville,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 topcampaign donors in Tennessee, lobbying regulators to loosen restrictions on payday loan activities.[1]
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 theConsumer 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 GovernorBill 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 toDonald Trump's presidential campaigns.[1] In a 2019 recording uncovered byThe Washington Post, Michael Hodges said those donations gave him better access to Trump.[1] In 2020, theTrump administration appointed a new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who rescinded many payday loan regulations.[1]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(January 2020) |
Advance Financial is a member of several trade organizations includingCommunity Financial Services Association of America,[2] Financial Service Centers of America[3] where the founders, Mike and Tina Hodges[4] serve on the board of directors[5] andOnline 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]
  | This article about a financial services corporation of the United States is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |