In this episode of the AFSA Extra Credit Podcast we talk with Mark Decker, Director of Business Systems Analysis with the Auto Group at FIS. As we come out of the pandemic, many businesses may be thinking of upcoming projects that were either put off because of COVID or are more important than ever because […]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced this week the first monthly payments of the newly expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) is set to begin in July. As part of the March stimulus package signed by President Biden, about 39 million U.S. households are expected to receive monthly CTC […]

This week, Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic (SECURE) Notarization Act. The bipartisan would expand the usage of Remote Online Notarizations (RONs), enabling businesses and consumers to execute critical documents using two-way audiovisual communication in different physical locations. AFSA joined other financial services […]

AFSA and Joint Trades yesterday wrote a letter to Congress in support of pre-dispute arbitration clauses and against the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act”, a bill which would effectively ban such provisions in private contracts. “The use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in contracts benefits consumers, small businesses, and employees. For example, recent studies have […]

Today, AFSA wrote to the Small Business Administration (SBA) asking that it clarify that finance companies are eligible for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness. “AFSA’s members, like so many businesses across the country, faced sudden and dramatic revenue shortfalls last year. Instead of furloughing staff, those businesses with fewer than 500 employees applied for […]

Join Nelly Meyer, Regional Sales Director and Doug Reynolds, Regional Sales Director, both with Paymentus on May 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET for How to Collect Faster Payments while Increasing Your Consumer Satisfaction, presented by Paymentus.   Consumers are increasingly using digital wallets, chatbots, and other advanced payment channels in their everyday lives, and as […]

The AFSA Events mobile app is your connectionto up-to-datee information for the 2021 Independents Conference & Expo, whether in-person or from your office! Check the conference schedule and create a personal list of sessions to attend; Ask questions in general and breakout sessions; Keep up-to-date on last minute room changes; See who else is attending to build your network; […]

Yesterday, the House Financial Service Committee advanced a slate of six bills on a party-line vote to address perceived discrimination in the consumer financial marketplace, expand corporate disclosures, and establish language preferences for mortgage lenders and servicers, among others. A summary of the bills is below. H.R. 166 – Fair Lending for All Act: The […]

AFSA members Prabir Chakrabarty, vice president and associate general at Mariner Finance and Kristen Miller, vice president, general counsel and compliance officer with Global Lending Services appear on the latest edition of the Auto Remarketing podcast. The pair serve as chair and vice chair respectively of AFSA’s Diversity & Inclusion Working Group which is the […]

Today, AFSA’s State Government Affairs Team sent a letter to the Iowa House Ways and Means Committee expressing concerns with HF 893, which would change the maximum rate for consumer loans in Iowa to a rate cap based on the federal military annual percentage rate (MAPR). Unlike the definition of annual percentage rate (APR) in the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA), MAPR includes the […]