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The 8^th annual Compass Technologies 2012 User Conference in Nashville, TN will be held April 12-14, 2012, at the Award-Winning Doubletree Hotel Nashville-Downtown. The hotel is located within walking distance of Tennessee's Capitol, Printer's Alley/Music Row, and is only ten minutes from Nashville International Airport.

This morning, AFSA President & CEO Chris Stinebert testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit on “Legislative Proposals to Promote Accountability and Transparency at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” 

Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act

In his first speech as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Richard Cordray announced a program to supervise nonbanks. 

Federal Reserve Board Proposes Regulations Affecting Systemically Important Banks and NonBanks

 The White House circulated a memo on Sunday evening entitled, Improving Americans’ Financial Security: The Importance of a CFPB Director.” The memo discusses why additional federal regulations are needed for payday loans, money services businesses, prepaid cards, non-bank mortgage lenders and servicers, and credit bureaus. The memo also discusses the impact of non-bank financial institutions’ practices on specific communities including servicemembers, older Americans, students, and latinos. The memo states, “Installment loan companies often have offices near military bases and market their loans online exclusively to the military. The Department of Defense found that the cost of loans was often not disclosed on installment lender sites and annual rates ranged from 391 percent to 782 percent APR for two-week installment loans.”

Yesterday, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank sent a letter to CFPB Acting Director Raj Date regarding oversight of non-bank financial entities – a day after meeting with AFSA member company executives.

On the morning of Oct. 6, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee met to consider the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was established by last year’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Banks have imposed fees on standard checking and debit card accounts as well as for particular bank services to make up for lost revenue. 

On Sept. 26, AFSA submitted one comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in response to four interim rules issued by the CFPB that would establish procedures for: (1) the conduct of adjudication proceedings, (2) investigations pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), (3) governing the process by which state officials notify the CFPB of actions or proceedings undertaken to enforce the Dodd-Frank Act, and (4) the public to obtain information from the CFPB under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, and in legal proceedings. 

On Sept. 20, AFSA submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in response to its request for information on consumer financial products and services offered to service members. 

The subprime market is coming back.  Dealerships are finding credit more available this year than during the credit crunch in late 2008 and early 2009. 

“If economists would only recognize the powerful socioeconomic implications of credit, they might recognize the need to promote credit as a human right.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is now accepting comments from financial institutions, servicemembers and the public about the products currently offered to, and used by, the military and their families. 

Federal Reserve Board officials promised to unveil their package of key Dodd-Frank rules by the end of the summer.

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Tennessee residents who use payday loans to get money quickly now are able to borrow up to $500 from a single lender, but could pay steeper fees under a new law passed this year by the General Assembly. 

A wave of new credit cards being introduced in late August demonstrates that issuers are still finding opportunities among well-to-do consumers, despite recent economic upheaval.