AFSA congratulates Jonathan McKernan, who earlier today was nominated by President Trump to serve as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. McKernan recently stepped down from his position on the FDIC Board, and has had extensive experience in the financial-services policy arena, having previously served in the Treasury Department, the Federal Housing […]

Consumer finance companies’ assessments of the current and prospective business environment improved significantly in Fourth Quarter 2024 according to the results of AFSA’s latest Consumer Credit Conditions Index Survey (C3 Survey). The full report will be released later this week. Each quarter, survey respondents share their views on the current business situation, as well as […]

On Friday evening, a day after Russell Vought was confirmed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, President Trump named him acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. AFSA congratulates Director Vought on his confirmation and his additional responsibilities as acting director at the Bureau. As AFSA noted in its letter to […]

Yesterday, AFSA responded to the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund’s questions regarding the small dollar loan program (SDL) application. The SDL application prohibits companies that provide “high-rate loans” from applying for the program. These loans are defined as “Loans that exceed the lower of the following two rates: (1) an all-inclusive 36% APR (using the […]

As part of AFSA work to bring our requests to the new acting director of the CFPB, Secretary Bessent, we signed a joint trades letter urge Secretary Bessent to withdraw the proposed rule expanding the scope of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to cover data brokers and related activity. The letter highlights to statutory […]

AFSA and other financial trade associations sent a letter yesterday to the CFPB’s new Acting Director Scott Bessett, asking him to immediately rescind its rule on the Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders (NBR Orders Rule) finalized in June 2024. The U.S. consumer financial services market is one of […]

This weekend, former Director Chopra announced that his tenure as head of the CFPB had concluded. Director Chopra continued to work up until his resignation became public. Late Friday, the CFPB indicated that actions that could generously be termed as additional over-reach were forthcoming. Congressman William Timmons (R-SC) sent a letter to the CFPB deputy director […]

Today, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) are introducing legislation to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. The legislation would be in effect for five years. AFSA was quoted in the NYT opposing the bill: The American Financial Services Association, a trade organization for credit card issuers, has said rate caps are “’unworkable’ and ‘actually […]

Today, President Trump announced that on January 31 he appointed Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as acting director of the CFPB. As one of his first actions as acting director, Secretary Bessent ordered that the CFPB will: halt movement on any proposed or final rules or guidance; suspend effective dates of rules; not advance […]

In the past two months the CFPB has worked overtime – literally – to reinforce its reputation as an agency of over-reach and unaccountability. Now, with no director and a new administration that has made it clear there will be a focus on transparency and accountability, Rep William Timmons, is requesting that the Bureau refrain […]