AFSA’s State Government Affairs (SGA) team yesterday submitted a comment letter regarding Massachusetts HD 5014, which would enact emergency financial protections and forbearance for consumers and small business during the COVID-19 pandemic. While AFSA’s members share the goal of providing relief to borrowers facing financial hardship, the bill as drafted would likely disrupt credit markets and create significant compliance challenges for creditors at a time when resources should be most focused on providing direct consumer relief. Among AFSA’s many concerns with the bill is its wide-ranging scope; as drafted, much of the bill would apply without relation to a consumer’s COVID-19 financial situation. AFSA urged the legislature to revise the bill’s requirements to cover consumers facing demonstrated financial hardships directly attributable to COVID-19.

This is part two of our AFSA Extra Credit Podcast series covering the COVID-19 pandemic.In this conversation, we’re speaking with David Anthony and Sadia Mirza, also with Troutman, on the overall impact of the virus, including debt collection, credit reporting and the TCPA, and also some cybersecurity aspects to think about. Because of the complex nature of these topics, you’ll notice the conversations are a bit longer as well. Be sure to check out AFSA’s coronavirus resource page, the AFSA blog, and social media for the most up to date information.

The news cycle continues to turn and with it comes more information about the coronavirus. Consumer finance companies, like ordinary Americans, are drinking from the firehose, trying to sift through what they need to know now to continue serving customers and helping employees. We’ve tried to distill the information flow down to the top four things you need to know.

The health and safety of AFSA members, their colleagues and our business partners is our top priority. As a result, to the COVID-19 pandemic, AFSA is canceling the Law & Compliance Symposium and related committee meetings scheduled for June 2-4 in Dallas. Please stay safe, and we look forward to connecting and working together in person very soon.

The American Financial Services Association State Government Affairs (SGA) team today published a COVID-19 state policy update white paper, the first of two covering state responses to the coronavirus outbreak.

The next two episodes of the AFSA Extra Credit Podcast are a bit different. We talk with attorneys from Troutman Sanders about the impact coronavirus is having on the consumer credit industry. Throughout the conversation, our guests highlight some key aspects to think about. Part One features Jeremy Tomes and Emily Schifter talking about the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program, as well as important employee logistics issues. Part Two, which posts early next week, is with David Anthony and Sadia Mirza on the overall effect of the virus and some cybersecurity aspects to consider.

American Financial Services Association President and CEO Bill Himpler posted the following related to the current status of federal COVID-19 response lending policies.

The American Financial Services Association has been in ongoing contact with officials at the White House, Federal Reserve, Treasury, the Small Business Administration, as well as Congress, regarding the various funding programs for businesses. Most are posted on our Coronavirus resource page.  Today, April 16, AFSA shared comments and recommendations with the Federal Reserve on the facilities it is rolling out in response to economic disruption from the coronavirus pandemic.

Join us on April 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET for Remote Work: Best Practices & Strategies, presented by Hudson Cook.

Premier Partners provide the American Financial Services Association with significant support to ensure the success of not only the association, but the entire consumer-finance industry. We asked the FIS team, AFSA’s February 2020 highlighted Premier Partner, to provide insight into the industry and their AFSA membership.