Obama In Birmingham

On Thursday, state Rep. Oliver Robinson (to the president's right) applauded Obama's remarks on predatory lending, but last year he took $5,000 from lenders in campaign donations. (Frank Couch\fcouch@al.com)

(Frank Couch)

Need some quick cash but your bank account is running dry?

In a pinch for funds but payday's a week away?

Then Alabama title loan and payday lenders have a deal for you!

Get a loan today for hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars when you need it!

And here's the best part - these loans come with no interest ... ever!

Hell, you don't even have to pay the money back. They will give you the cash to keep forever!

I know what you're thinking. What's the catch?

There is no catch, if -- and this is a big if -- you are a member of the Alabama Legislature*.

(* Some restrictions may apply. Offers limited to Alabama House and Senate leadership, members of the Alabama Senate Banking Committee and Alabama House Financial Services Committee.)

Obama in Birmingham

On Thursday, President Barack Obama visited Birmingham, Alabama, where he touted reforms of the payday and title loan lending industries. There are four times as many payday lenders in Alabama as there are McDonald's, the president said. And like the McDonald's dollar menu, those lenders have some nasty deals for the poor and famished.

In Alabama, the interest and fees for a payday loan of $500 can be as much as $87.50 for the first two weeks. In credit card terms, that's an APR of 456 percent, and if the borrower can't pay that loan off then, those fees and interest start to pile on. Most borrowers remain in debt for more than five months.

"You take out a $500 loan at the rates that they're charging in these payday loans -- some cases 450 percent interest -- you wind up paying more than $1,000 in interest and fees on the $500 that you borrowed," the president said Thursday.

Who Got What?

Sen. Del Marsh: $43,000.

Rep. Mike Hubbard: $37,835.

Sen. Slade Blackwell: $25,845.

Sen. Roger Bedford: $23,860.

Rep. Mike Hill: $14,250.

Sen. Tom Whatley: $13,750.

Rep. Lesley Vance: $13,550.

Rep. Mac McCutcheon: $12,750.

Sen. Gerald Dial: $11,000.

Sen. Shay Shelnutt: $10,800.

Rep. Steve Clouse: $7,500.

Sen. Jimmy Holley: $7,000.

Sen. Cam Ward: $7,000.

Rep. Stephen Hurst: $5,750.

Sen. Paul Bussman: $5,500.

Rep. Thad McClammy: $5,500.

Rep. Marcel Black: $5,250.

Sen. Clay Scofield: $5,000.

Sen. Bill Hightower: $5000.

Rep. Oliver Robinson: $5,000.

Sen. Jerry Fielding: $4,500.

Sen. Jabo Waggoner: $4,500.

Rep. Jack Williams: $4,500.

Sen. Tripp Pittman: $4,000.

Rep. Mack Butler: $4,000.

Rep. Alan Booth: $3,500.

Rep. April Weaver: $3,500.

Rep. Ronald Johnson: $3,250.

Rep. Randy Wood: $3,000.

Sen. Quinton Ross: $2,500.

Sen. Hank Sanders: $2,500.

Rep. Michael Millican: $2,500.

Sen. Paul Sanford: $2,250.

Sen. William Holtzclaw: $2,000.

Rep. Koven Brown: $2,000.

Rep. Micky Hammon: $2,000.

Sen. Greg Reed: $1,750.

Rep. Howard Sanderford: $1,500.

Rep. Barry Moore: 1,500.

Sen. Linda Coleman: $1,000.

Rep. Bill Poole: $1,000.

Rep. Stephen McMillian: $1,000.

Rep. Micheal Jones: $1,000.

Twenty-two states have already regulated the industry, but here in Alabama, the industry has protected itself from state-level reforms by dumping loads of cash into the campaign accounts of Alabama lawmakers.

And those campaign donations have been targeted strategically to key leaders in the legislature and to members of important committees where reforms have stalled and died in recent years.

Who got what?

For instance, in the Alabama Senate, banking committee members collectively received more than $116,000 in the last election cycle from the lending industry. Every member got something, although some got more than others.

State Sen. Slade Blackwell, who chairs that committee, received more than $25,000, even though you're more likely to find $500 lying on the sidewalk in Blackwell's hometown of Mountain Brook than you would be to find a payday loan operation there.

And state Senate leaders received donations, too, including Alabama Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh, who got $43,000 during the last cycle.

In the Alabama House, the industry spread more than $59,000 among the Financial Services Committee members and gave $37,835 to Speaker Mike Hubbard during the last two years.

All together, lenders gave more than $475,000 to lawmakers during the last election season.

And what do they get for that?

Consider what happened to a bill sponsored last year by Rep. Rod Scott, D-Birmingham.

Purse strings attached

Here's the problem Scott's bill tried to fix.

Let's say you borrowed $2,000 against your car title at a title loan lender.

And let's say that you ran up another $500 of interest and fees before the lender took your car.

The lender then sells your car for $5,000 - that's $2,500 more than what you owed them.

Under the law now, they would get to keep the whole five grand, even though you owed them half that.

Scott's bill would have allowed the lender to keep what was owed them and would give the rest of that money back to the borrower.

Seems fair, right?

More than half of the Alabama House members thought so, too, and they signed on to Scott's bill as co-sponsors.

Let me repeat that - a majority of the Alabama House members co-sponsored the bill.

And yet, the bill never made it out of committee. It died there along with several other payday lending and title loan reforms, and it died at the hands of that handful of lawmakers who got all the campaign cash from the industry.

Because, in the end, the money those lawmakers received didn't have an interest rate and it was theirs to keep.

But don't think for a moment it was free.