The American Financial Services Association (AFSA), along with sister trade the Marketplace Lenders Association (MLA), called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to create an updated Term-Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program (which we are calling TALF 2020).

The American Financial Service Association, along with other trades, in a comment letter on March 22, called on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to delay implementation of the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standards. The letter notes that in this critical time for our country, "the focus and efforts of banks, as it is for our government, should be targeted onsupporting the economy and we should not be subject to incentives that constrain our ability to lend and help to restore our communities during these troubled times."

Ally Financial this week, launched a comprehensive set of financial support initiatives to help the people and communities it serves to withstand the extraordinary pressures triggered by the COVID-19 health crisis and be better positioned to recover quickly from its effects.

The American Financial Services Association joined with other financial-services trade associations on a letter to Congressional leaders in support of pro-consumer policies that will aid ongoing access to credit. You can read the letter here.

The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) today, March 20, sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) Chair Maxine Waters highlighting member company responses to the coronavirus pandemic. AFSA was pleased to share the many steps consumer credit companies have already taken to aid consumers, including:

Premier Partners provide the American Financial Services Association with significant support to ensure the success of not only the association, but the entire consumer-finance industry. We asked the SourceLink team, AFSA’s February 2020 highlighted Premier Partner, to provide insight into the industry and their AFSA membership.

There are many different ways that the coronavirus threat highlights and intersects with a host of other, seemingly unrelated policy issues. For example, access to health care, the ability of hourly or part time workers to build a social or economic safety net for themselves and their families, or how federal and state government can put in place the necessary preparations and protections to meet the needs of citizens. Those are some of the big issues that policymakers grapple with.

As more schools close or move online, we want to highlight the AFSA Education Foundation’s free online personal finance course, MoneySKILL®.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) on March 18, 2020, approved deposit insurance applications for two companies, Square and Nelnet, to launch two, new industrial banks. The approval of industrial banks, which the American Financial Services Association has sought for nearly two decades, paves the way for more non-depository financial institutions to provide key banking services to consumers.

Yesterday, American Financial Services Association President & CEO Bill Himpler, with representatives of other, select trade groups, met via phone with House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) staff to brief them on what the financial-services industry is doing in response to the coronavirus.