AFSA’s State Government Affairs September white paper looks at the state legislative landscape on disparate impact liability in lending. As federal agencies pull back on disparate impact enforcement, states such as Illinois and New Jersey have moved to preserve or strengthen it, while similar efforts in Delaware stalled and New York reminded lenders that state fair lending law […]

A series of coordinated op-eds has recently attempted to defend for-profit debt settlement companies while opposing federal legislation to better regulate them. The pieces share similar arguments, similar attacks on AFSA, and a similar omission. None of them refutes the facts. AFSA responded in the American Banker and revisited those facts. Among them: The settlement […]

The House Financial Services Committee met this week for a hearing titled “Strengthening the American Economy: Promoting Growth, Opportunity, and Prosperity.” Members discussed the economic effect of pro-growth policies and regulatory reforms, as well as how these measures can help address broader affordability challenges, and H.R. 7866, the “American Lending Fairness Act” (ALFA). Before the […]

September 17, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET GAP and loan overpayment refunds have become one of auto finance’s most scrutinized processes—and the responsibility has shifted. What was once handled by dealers now falls to lenders, putting refund accuracy, timing, and documentation directly in the spotlight for regulators and customers alike. In this session, leading corporate […]

AFSA has compiled and sent member comments to the House Financial Services Committee, which solicited feedback on its draft legislation, the CFPB Reform Act of 2026. While there have been recent, positive changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Committee is seeking to make some of the changes more permanent and less likely to […]

On one of our latest episodes of the AFSA Extra Credit Podcast, Celia Winslow, President and CEO of AFSA sits down with the oldest and youngest generation of the family business at 1st Franklin Financial. While both go by Ben Cheek, one is a recent graduate of Auburn University and the newest generation of Cheek serving as […]

Last week, AFSA’s SGA team attended the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) Conference in Bellevue, Washington. The team participates in this conference each year to track emerging mortgage policy and regulatory developments, while also building and strengthening relationships with state regulators. These connections are particularly valuable because many of these regulators also oversee […]

August 20, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET Consumer lenders closely monitor the cost of accepting payments, often focusing on transaction fees and processor invoices. But what if those costs represent only a small fraction of what it actually takes to get paid? New research from PayNearMe introducing the Payment Experience Gap found that transaction fees […]

For some time now, AFSA has made a simple point about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s public complaint database. A complaint is a claim, not a finding. When the Bureau publishes an unverified narrative, it presents one side of a story that no one has checked, then invites the public to treat it as fact. […]

On its face, Thursday’s inflation report was good news. Wholesale prices were flat from June to July (economists expected a 0.2 percent increase), and the year-over-year rise in the Producer Price Index slowed to 4.7 percent, down sharply from 5.5 percent in June. After a spring and summer of resurgent inflation, any cooling is welcome. The […]