The chief executives of five auto finance lenders, representing captives and major banks, will participate in a panel discussion next week at AFSA’s annual Vehicle Finance Conference, capping off three days of deep dives and 30,000-foot overviews of what the auto finance industry faces today and in the near future.

AFSA strives to assemble meeting presentations that address critical issues for consumer finance companies. At the upcoming 2nd Annual Law & Compliance Symposium, AFSA will be featuring speakers from Akerman LLP to address two discrete issues of significance.

This week AFSA submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on a proposed rule to implement the credit monitoring provisions that Congress passed as part of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act last year. The law requires nationwide consumer reporting agencies to provide free electronic credit monitoring service to active duty military consumers.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2019- The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) today announced promotions reflecting expanded expertise and increased responsibilities in both its federal and state government policy functions.

January 2, 2019Robert BlackwellEditor-in-ChiefAmerican BankerSourceMedia LLCOne State Street Plaza, 27th FloorNew York, NY 10004To the Editor,A recent story published in American Banker (“Will Congress move to outlaw ‘live’ checks?” by Andy Peters, December 27, 2018) makes a number of salient points about the consumer loan products sometimes called “live checks.” While the article points out that these products fill a recognized need in the marketplace, it also includes false claims from an activist group hostile to financial services.As the article states, live checks are in demand as customers with less than perfect credit face difficulty borrowing from traditional banks. Contrary to the claim by the activist group, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), the checks themselves are clearly and transparently marketed in accordance with federal and state truth in lending laws. Moreover, the consumer finance companies themselves have every incentive to ensure their practices are fully compliant with relevant regulations.NCLC also erroneously claims that it has been “getting more complaints about live checks, from both lawyers on the ground and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s [CFPB] complaint database.”However, NCLC offers no hard basis for the first part of that claim, and the second part is demonstrably false. As can be easily confirmed on CFPB’s own website, there have been fewer t …

Today, AFSA’s State Government Affairs department published its 2019 State Legislative Preview and 2018 Review white paper. Published monthly, AFSA’s state white papers typically provide a snapshot in time covering a single issue area; however, the 2019 preview/2018 review provides a broad look across AFSA members’ priority issues, including information on debt collection, fintech regulation, mortgage lending and servicing, payment cards and systems, state rate cap activity, traditional installment loans, and vehicle finance. The paper will give AFSA members a good idea of what they can expect from the states throughout this year.

Join us on Tuesday, January 15, 2019 for Optimizing the Usage of Alternative Credit Data in Auto Finance, presented by Clarity/Experian.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last week announced that it will require mortgage lenders to publicly release fewer details under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) starting in 2019. AFSA has previously advocated in favor of the changes and supports the bureau’s augmentation of the data that is collected.

The AFSA offices will be closed on December 24th & December 25th. AFSA offices will also be closed on Monday, December 31st.

The year may be closing, but the AFSA Webinar Series is rolling right into the new year with a full slate of programs.