A new report from The Intercept claims that Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) founded a consulting firm known as Forza Consulting, LLC (FCLLC) in partnership with former State Rep. Chad Campell (D-Phoenix), who has allegedly supported payday lending interests in the past.
According to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), the FCLLC was formed in September 2007, with Sinema and former State Rep. David Lujan (D-Phoenix) listed as the Managers. Campbell was listed as a member, and the company is still active, according to the ACC.
Intercept Reporter Daniel Boguslaw accused Sinema of championing the businesses that exploit Americans in poverty.
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to Sinema’s office for a comment on this report but did not hear back by press time.
According to a 2016 report from the Center for American Progress, payday loans are marketed as fast cash but come with a catch. They involve giving a lender access to a person’s bank account for a quick deposit and repayment is typically due two weeks later, typically from the individual’s next payday. However, these loans often come with hefty interest rates. Usually, the recipient will need another loan to pay off the first, creating an entrapping loan cycle and growing fees.
According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, 18 states, plus Washington D.C., have laws that prohibit payday loans and protect consumers. Arizona is among those states; however, this was not always the case.
Payday loans ended in 2010 when an Arizona law expired, capping annual interest rates at 36%. However, in 2007, Senate Bill (SB) 1446 came to the state legislature, which would allow payday lenders to continue operating in the state with capped interest rates. The bill would have prohibited loan cycles that trap consumers and instead allowed lenders to give consumers a payment schedule, which would have given extra time for the recipient to make good on the loan without having to pay additional fees. Campell and lobbyists representing payday lenders in Arizona supported the bill, but it ultimately failed.
Moreover, the lenders attempted to return in 2017 through House Bill (HB) 2496, which would have allowed loans with a 164 percent fee, although this attempt failed as well. While Campell was no longer a legislator at this time, he did become a lobbyist for the Arizona Financial Choice Association (AFCA) from 2017 to 2020. Campell told The Intercept that the AFCA had nothing to do with payday loans and downplayed his involvement with the organization.
In 2016, Arizona State Rep. Debbie McCune Davis (D-Phoenix) called for Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) to investigate AFCA for misrepresenting information to elected officials and consumers. The association delivered boxes filled with citizen signatures supporting SB 1316, a bill that would legalize loans with interest rates of 200 percent. When the state legislature contacted people who had signed the forms, they stated their opposition to it after hearing what it allowed.
Campell told The Intercept that his involvement with the AFCA had nothing to do with Sinema.
Yet, Boguslaw wrote that Sinema had received $168,000 from the payday lenders industry, more than any other active Senator. Moreover, during her time in the Senate, she allegedly opposed the efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reign in payday lenders. For example, she voted against an amendment that would have altered a bill attempting to defund CFPB’s efforts to target payday lenders.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kyrsten Sinema” by Kyrsten Sinema. Photo “Chad Campbell” by Chad Campbell. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by UpstateNYer. CC BY-SA 3.0.
