Activists are accusing a payday lender trade group of trying to improperly court the favor of the Trump administration by holding its annual conference at one of the president's properties, NPR reported Wednesday.

The Community Financial Services Association of America is holding its annual conference this week at Trump National Doral Golf Club near Miami. Several people protesting outside the property accused payday lenders of preying on low-income people.

"There are people who need small-dollar loans, but this is a trap," Cassandra Gould, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor from Missouri, told NPR. "What they don't need is to have to pay $500 back over and over and over and over again, and then therefore be in a worse financial situation then they started off in."

Protesters said it was "no coincidence" the group is holding its conference at a Trump-branded property. They noted the Trump administration put on hold tougher regulations for payday lenders that the industry opposed.

CFSA CEO Dennis Shaul told NPR the decision to hold the conference at the hotel was not about politics.

"You really do not get much out of trading on someone's name or his past endeavors," Shaul said. "That was certainly not a factor when we made this decision here." http://bit.ly/2K1rph4

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