AFSA’s State Government Affairs recently released its July white paper that examines growing concerns about the “true lender” doctrine and state efforts to curb evasion of interest rate caps through bank-fintech partnerships. While banks can legally export interest rates under federal law, some states argue that non-bank partners effectively act as lenders and are using these partnerships to bypass state usury laws. In response, several states […]

The recently signed “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) is a sprawling piece of legislation that will affect just about every facet of the American economy, including the financial lives of consumers.  While many AFSA members were focused on the bill’s halving of the CFPB’s funding, another OBBB provision may enhance consumer financial flexibility and serve […]

Join us Thursday, July 24th at 2:00 p.m. EST! In today’s competitive lending environment, standing out locally is more critical than ever. While Fintechs leverage speed and scale, traditional and nonbank lenders have a powerful asset they often underutilize: their local branch presence. This webinar explores how branch-level marketing is evolving—and how you – as […]

The Senate passed the budget reconciliation legislation (commonly called the “One Big Beautiful Bill) by a vote of 51-50 today (July 1), with Vice President JD Vance giving the Republicans the tie-breaking vote for final Senate passage.  The bill will go back to the House of Representatives to be voted on quickly before adjourning for […]

The American Financial Services Association, the nation’s oldest trade association solely focused on the consumer credit industry, today formally handed the reins of leadership to Celia Winslow as the trade group’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Winslow succeeds Bill Himpler, who announced plans to retire in late 2024. Winslow brings almost twenty years of leadership […]

Uncertain economic conditions make it hard for already financially burdened U.S. consumers to meet their basic needs and prepare for future costs. Surveys estimate that almost half of Americans have less than $500 in savings to cover emergency expenses, and despite the right-sizing of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, regulatory uncertainty for businesses and consumers […]

Last week the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing entitled, “From Watchdog to Attack Dog: Examining the CFPB’s Chopra-era Assault on Disfavored Industries.” The focus was on regulations imposed and actions taken by the CFPB during both the Biden and Trump administrations, with testimony from James Kim, Partner at Cooley; Jennifer […]

As was widely expected, the Federal Reserve announced last week that it was leaving short-term interest rates unchanged. Thus, the target range of the federal funds rate stands at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, as it has since last December. With economic uncertainty running high, the FOMC, the Fed’s interest rate setting body, has adopted […]

This week, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) testified before the House Financial Services Committee in support of the Ending Scam Credit Repair Act (ESCRA). This bipartisan bill sponsored by Reps. McBride and Young Kim (R-CA) targets deceptive credit repair organizations (CROs) that mislead consumers with high upfront fees and false promises of credit score improvements. Representative McBride testified that, […]

Join us on June 26, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. EST! When lenders only zero-in on per-transaction fees, they miss what’s really driving up total cost of acceptance: avoidable payment exceptions, manual agent intervention and legacy technology. Join PayNearMe as we dive deeper into the factors which influence total cost of acceptance and see how Payment […]