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.

The next two episodes of the AFSA Extra Credit Podcast are a bit different. We’ll be talking with attorneys from Troutman Sanders about the impact the coronavirus is having on the consumer credit industry. Throughout the conversation, our guests highlight some key aspects to think about. The first part features Jeremy Tomes and Emily Schifter. We talk about the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program as well as some important employee logistics issues. Our second conversation, which we will post later this week, is with David Anthony and Sadia Mirza on the overall impact of the virus and some cybersecurity aspects to consider. Because of the complex nature of these topics, you’ll notice the conversations are a bit longer as well.

Join us on April 30 at 2:00 p.m. ET for Reporting Automotive Loan Payments During the COVID-19 Pandemic, presented by Equifax.

In times of economic uncertainty it is not a surprise that any number of economic prognosticators are out there opining and crystal-ball gazing, whether those views are based on facts or not.

On April 2, ACI/SpeedPay presented a program entitled Consumer Pulse Survey – Focus on Auto Finance Billing and Payment as part of the AFSA Business Partner Webinar Series.

The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) yesterday, April 8, submitted a comment letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza asking that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) rules be amended to explicitly permit vehicle-finance lenders to make PPP loans and allow traditional installment lenders to access them.

GM Financial has launched a variety of asisstance options for its auto finance consumers. The company is waiving all late fees from March 1 through April 30 and is offering lease end assistance. Learn more at GM's coronavirus page.

During this time of uncertainty, the American Financial Services Association and its member companies are doing their best to help consumers maintain their financial security and flexibility, while also continuing to support the communities where our members live and work. In this unprecedented moment, it is important for us to provide help where we can and to look for ways to perhaps do a bit more.