The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) today released its 2020 Federal Priorities. America has a full history of evolving national consumer financial protection laws aimed at ensuring consumers are fairly and responsibly treated by financial institutions. Some 22 different federal laws, spanning eight different agencies, create a layered system of laws that protect consumers. The steady progression of these laws promotes a rich and diverse economy where consumers have tremendous choice in accessing a myriad of credit products from a wide variety of sources. As our economy continues to evolve, our consumer finance laws must account for the needs of both consumers and business. With an eye toward improving our existing system, we offer the 2020 Federal Priorities to strengthen and improve the marketplace for today’s consumers.

Yesterday, February 5th, AFSA staff attended the House Financial Services Committee’s first of two hearings entitled, “Rent-A-Bank Schemes and New Debt Traps: Assessing Efforts to Evade State Consumer Protections and Interest Rate Caps.” The second is scheduled for February 26th.

The American Financial Services Association, joining a number of other trade associations representing a wide variety of industries, submitted a letter on February 5 to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to clarify its definition of automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) found in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The AFSA Pulse initiative is moving forward with active engagement from several large auto finance companies. We are very excited about developing and refining the service to support AFSA Members and the association. With your input and guidance, we have built new data views including Marketing Data and Maps. This adds a whole new dimension to the platform to evaluate current and new markets while reducing reliance on other third-party data sources.

Today’s connected cars and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles demonstrate the commercial opportunities for collecting personal data. The questions: Who should control the use of that data? The company or the customer?

White Clarke Group is February’s Featured Partner.

The American Financial Services Association is disappointed that Members of the House last night (January 29) approved H.R. 3621, “The Comprehensive CREDIT Act”, which actually harms the very consumers Congress claims to be trying to help by further empowering unscrupulous credit-repair organizations and the plaintiffs’ bar.

In this episode of the AFSA Extra Credit Podcast, we’re speaking with Stan Butler, President & CEO of Heights Finance. We talk a bit about the difference Stan sees in banks versus consumer credit companies like Heights. We also touch on fintech and rate caps and both the challenges and opportunities they provide.

The American Financial Services Association (AFSA), along with several other trade associations, submitted an amicus brief in Thompson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank on January 22, a case currently being heard in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC).

Join us on February 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET for The Borrower’s Digital Journey, presented by REPAY.