Even though Donald Trump has told donors "I don't want your money" and repeatedly said that his campaign is "self-funded," that hasn't stopped the real estate mogul's campaign from taking in millions in cash from individual donors.
According to the most recent contribution records from the Federal Election Commission (through Jan. 31, 2016), just under a third of Trump's campaign funds -- about $7.5 million -- has come from individual donors.
Of the money that he has contributed to the campaign ($17.78 million), about one percent ($250,318) of that is a direct contribution to the campaign and the rest is in the form of loans. By making his contributions this way, it allows for Trump to be paid back later using other campaign contributions they receive, according to FEC rules.
Trump's presidential campaign has received just over $25.5 million between April 2 of last year and the end of January 2016, which is the most recent FEC filing period.
Of that total, more than two-thirds of those funds come from the loans the real estate mogul has made to his campaign. Those loans, which add up to $17,534,058, have been made by Trump in 10 payments, the two biggest of which came in December, accounting for 42.6 percent of all of the loans, records show.
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According to the most recent filings, Trump's campaign has spent about $23.7 million, about $6 million more than Trump's loans and candidate contributions.
Candidates are allowed to use individual contributions to pay back loans, as long as the contributions are made before Election Day. After Election Day, candidates can raise money to pay off outstanding debts, but only $250,000 of that new, post-Election Day money can be used to pay the candidate's loans.
