The Senate yesterday approved S.J. Res. 57 by a 51-47 vote. The vote on the resolution, under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), disapproves of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) 2013 vehicle finance guidance.

On April 19, AFSA’s National Title Solutions Forum (NTSF) submitted a comment letter to the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee in opposition to Senate Bill 2470, which would make changes to the titling and lien release processes for vehicles in Illinois, including requiring that all vehicle titles include an automatic lien expiration date.

“The vehicle finance market in the United States is a highly-competitive market which benefits consumers as dealers and lenders discount pricing and loan rates to sell and finance new and used vehicles,” said Chris Stinebert, President & CEO of the American Financial Services Association, a trade association representing vehicle finance lenders. “The vote today is in the best interests of the car-buying public.”

On Wednesday, Compli presented “Regulatory Alphabet Soup: As the CFPB evolves, who is watching lenders now?” as part of the AFSA Business Partner Webinar Program. The main takeaway from the webinar: regardless of the changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), compliance is of utmost importance.

This year’s MoneySKILL® Mania financial literacy competition, taking place in high schools across western New York, equaled a clean sweep for Fredonia High School.

On March 22, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced S.J. Res. 57. This legislation has been co-sponsored by 20 Senators. Earlier this week, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) introduced H.J Resolution 132, the House companion to S.J. Res. 57. These two pieces of legislation are unique Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions. As such, these resolutions need only a simple majority to pass and cannot be filibustered in the Senate.

As Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has stated, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) appears to be discarding its former governing philosophy of “pushing the envelope” through aggressive prosecution, and embracing a more case-by-case approach to enforcement.

On April 10, AFSA submitted a comment letter to the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to Senate Bill 2521, which would create certain conditions for the use of electronic tracking technology or starter interrupt technology in connection with the credit sale, loan, or lease of a motor vehicle. The bill was scheduled for consideration at a hearing later that day.

Registration deadlines for both THE EDGE and the Leadership Development Program at UNC are approaching!

On April 2, AFSA’s State Government Affairs department published its recent rate cap legislation white paper. AFSA’s white paper examines recent measures proposed by states to impose rate caps, including those that use an APR calculation consistent with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and rate caps with APR variants more broad than TILA. The white paper also provides an overview of recent state legislation to update existing interest rate bands and fee structures. Importantly, the paper notes that these rate caps often tend to harm the very people the proponents of the rate caps seek to protect, as low APR caps for small loans tend to create zones where legal, affordable small dollar loans are unobtainable.