Ellen Harnick, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit that works to end abusive financial practices, said the payday industry hires high-priced, experienced lobbyists who ingratiate themselves with state and federal lawmakers through campaign contributions, dinner invitations and casual meetings while roaming the halls of power. The access gives them opportunities to argue that high-cost loans are beneficial for people who find it hard to obtain credit.
The result, she said, is that even legislators who would never counsel anyone they love to take on such burdensome debt nonetheless decide, “I’m not going to shut it down.”