A recent post on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Liberty Street Economics blog offers a sobering look at how interest rate caps reshape the consumer lending market, often in ways their proponents may not intend. The analysis, drawn from a New York Fed Staff Report, examines three states (Illinois, South Dakota, and North Dakota) that enacted 36 […]

On June 15, 2026, a coalition of financial services trade associations – the National Association of Industrial Bankers (NAIB), the American Financial Services Association (AFSA), and the Online Lenders Alliance (OLA) – filed suit in federal court against the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. To read a copy of the complaint, click here. […]

BUSINESS PARTNER WEBINAR Why AI Implementations Fail, and How Asset Finance Lenders Can Get It Right June 18, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET Up to 95% of AI pilots fail to scale, but it doesn’t have to be that way. For asset finance lenders, the challenge isn’t the promise of AI. It’s execution. This session […]

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 passed the House Armed Services Committee with report language that AFSA advocated and strongly supports. This report language instructs the Pentagon to examine the Military Lending Act regulations (something they are required to do by statute but have not for several years), including examination of the potential harm […]

The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) welcomes the nomination of Brian Johnson to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. Johnson brings deep and directly relevant experience to the role. He previously served as Deputy Director of the CFPB, where he oversaw the agency’s rulemaking, supervision, and enforcement activities, and helped establish […]

AFSA’s latest State Government Affairs white paper examines how consumer complaint data is collected and reported across states, highlighting significant inconsistencies in availability, categorization, and transparency that limit meaningful trend analysis. It provides a high-level snapshot of commonly reported complaint categories—such as auto-related issues, credit and debt concerns, and fraud. This paper, along with SGA’s other white papers, […]

A new post on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Liberty Street Economics blog acknowledges an old idea: usury limits, otherwise known as interest rate caps, don’t work. The piece provides some interesting historical background on usury regulations, noting that “their recent resurgence on the consumer side was triggered by payday lenders’ entry into the […]

“Industry Expertise” is sponsored content produced by AFSA’s Business Partners’ to provide thought leadership and best practices for AFSA member companies. For more information about this sponsored content opportunity, contact Dan Bucherer. Bank partnerships have become central to how consumer finance companies grow and compete. Branded credit cards, buy-now-pay-later products, rate exportation arrangements, and full-scale Banking-as-a-Service […]

BUSINESS PARTNER WEBINAR Why AI Implementations Fail, and How Asset Finance Lenders Can Get It Right June 18, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET Up to 95% of AI pilots fail to scale, but it doesn’t have to be that way. For asset finance lenders, the challenge isn’t the promise of AI. It’s execution. This session […]

Reading the Room: What Voters Are Really Saying About the Economy and the Road to the Midterms Numbers don’t lie. But they do require interpretation and AFSA’s Annual Meeting has two of the best in the business to help us do just that. Two of Washington’s most respected pollsters go beyond the headlines to reveal […]