ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION
ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION

NEWS: September 12, 2016

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microbilt
September 6, 2016

CFPB's Unrelenting Overreach Threatens Consumers and Businesses

Since its founding, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has embarked on a prolonged campaign of unmitigated governmental overreach into nearly all aspects of American society and the U.S. economy. The CFPB, an unaccountable bureaucracy that has displayed a continual disregard for established laws and procedures, has relentlessly employed heavy-handed tactics to promote its activist regulatory agenda.

As a result of the CFPB's overreach, consumers may be deprived of a lifeline when they need it most. And without access to short-term credit, consumers will be forced to choose costlier options such as overdrafting a bank account, bouncing a check, or turning to unlicensed, unregulated lenders.

Government officials, trade associations, and think tanks have all weighed in on the CFPB's penchant for massive regulatory overreach and picking winners and losers in the marketplace:

Government Officials Recognize the CFPB's Dangerous Overreach

"Rather than pursue a simple solution, the CFPB instead opted for a strategy of requiring lenders to complete a thorough 'ability to repay' analysis prior to funding a loan. This approach may be in line with regulations governing other credit products, but it goes too far and is too complex for small dollar loans, especially from smaller lenders." - William M. Isaac, former Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"The Fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution allows for due process and equal protection under the law. In this instance, however, we have a conflict of these two principals [sic]. The CFPB rushed through a formal policy change while not giving affected parties the ability to comment and be heard... The CFPB is using an 'end-around' through their ECOA enforcement authority to regulate the auto finance business." - Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)

"The CFPB undoubtedly remains the single most powerful and least accountable Federal agency in all of Washington. When it comes to the credit cards, auto loans and mortgages of hardworking taxpayers the CFPB has unbridled, discretionary power not only to make those less available and more expensive, but to absolutely take them away." - Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)

Trade Associations are Fearful of the CFPB's Heavy-Handedness

"It's very much a mixed bag. A lot of what they're [CFPB] doing - I think it's overstepping the line. They're often treading in areas where I don't believe they have jurisdiction. They're pushing the envelope a little too far." - Alan Kaplinsky, attorney and former Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Consumer Financial Services

"Having an agency swimming so far outside of the very specific lane it was assigned to by Congress is an extremely serious public policy matter, and a growing number of Democrats and Republicans are justifiably concerned about the CFPB's actions, as well as its secrecy, its methodology and its lack of accountability." - Jared Allen, National Automobile Dealers Association


Think Tanks are Shocked at the CFPB's Activist Regulatory Agenda

"The CFPB, under the law, has been granted a great deal of power over the financial institutions of the nation. They have the ability to cry foul on any consumer-credit product and then outlaw it completely. The fact that there is little oversight on the outlawing of products is ridiculous and gives inherently too much power to an unelected regulatory body." - James Morrone Jr., Americans for Tax Reform

"While a more coherent consumer-protection regime is needed, consumer-protection goals often conflict with other goals, such as promoting competition. As an unaccountable bureaucracy with a single head, the bureau will be susceptible to bureaucracy's worst pathologies: a tunnel-vision focus on the agency's regulatory mission, undue risk aversion, and agency overreach." - Todd Zywicki, Mercatus Center

AMY CANTU
CFSA | Director of Communications
703.842.2092 (o)
FactorTrust
Fight Back Packet

Payday Business Owners:
HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR ' FIGHT BACK PACKET '?

If you HAVEN'T.......
GET IT TODAY!
If you HAVE.....ARE YOU IMPLEMENTING IT?

It's YOUR industry, YOUR future, so  get us YOUR
Contact Info,  # of Stores and where they are
so we can get  a complete package out to you  TODAY!

Call or email CFSA 1.888.544.2313 -  comment@cfsaa.com
or
Call or email AFSPA: 1.757.737.4088 -  dan@afspassociation.com

Watch for the upcoming CFSA webinar, FREE for ALL members

Fight Back Packet
CFSA AFSPA







The public comment period has begun and will continue through October 7th.

Our goal is to generate as many different comment letters from our member companies,
including you, your employees, business associates, contacts and customers

YOU need to get involved to protect
your business,  your customers, your industry.

We will send you a "FIGHT BACK PACKET"  with information about the CFPB's comment period and how to send a letter to the regulators in Washington to prevent this rule from harming your business and denying your customers access to credit. 

Get involved and you can change the rule!

Call us toll-free at 1.888.544.2313  for more information
or to get your  " FIGHT BACK PACKET "
or
email CFSA at comment@cfsaa.com

DM Metrics
Ranks of the 'Unbanked' Decline, FDIC Survey Finds

WASHINGTON -- Fewer Americans are going without bank accounts, according to a new government survey, a trend expected to support consumer spending and housing investment in the coming years.

Reflecting economic recovery, the percentage of Americans without access to banking services fell to 7% in 2015 from 7.7% in 2013 and a peak of 8.2% in 2011, according to the survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Last year's proportion of "unbanked" households was the lowest since the FDIC started the biennial survey in 2009. That year, the share was 7.6%.


The decline in unbanked households reflects the continued recovery in the U.S. economy, which has lifted lower- income households by adding jobs and raising wages. Increased access to banking by households, in turn, benefits the economy by laying down a path for these customers to get credit cards and eventually take out auto and home loans.

"Through a banking relationship, consumers can take an important step toward full participation in our economy," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in prepared remarks to be delivered Thursday. Mr. Gruenberg will offer highlights of the FDIC survey; the full report is to be released Oct. 20. Read the article at NASDAQ
Prepay Nation
Canadian credit unions offer payday loans, citing debt pressure

More Canadian credit unions are offering lower-cost alternatives to high-interest payday lenders, a product they say is needed to meet increased demand for emergency loans and prevent borrowers from becoming trapped by debt.

Credit unions, major financial players in some Canadian provinces, are offering the product as the economy struggles with weak oil prices and high debt levels.

Executives say because credit unions are owned by members, they can provide loans more cheaply than for-profit payday lenders.

"We are trying to target the market of the payday loan providers, bring people through the door and hopefully get them onto stronger financial footing," said Eddie Francis, president of WFCU Credit Union, which publicly launched a payday service last month.

Payday loan demand is seen by many as a byproduct of Canada's weak economy, which shrank in the second quarter. Household debt is also near a record high.

"You just need to look out the window of any credit union branch or bank branch and what do you see across the street but a payday lender," said Linda Morris, a senior vice-president at Vancity Credit Union. Read the story at REUTERS
LoanTec
What a truly successful wellness plan looks like

Determining what makes a wellness program successful can be very subjective based on what the investor of the program expects to receive out of it. Does having healthier employees who use less sick time make a wellness program successful or does the continued investment in an employee's HSA make the program? Is physical health the goal or is it financial, or mental, or even social? To ensure a client has the best wellness program, an adviser must be able to determine what it is their client is seeking.

Companies such as Schneider Electric focus their wellness program on physical health and create health status awareness by providing the tools, resources and education for employees to continue to stay healthy through their health and fitness reimbursement program, health coaching, local and national activities. Read the article at Employee Benefit Advisor
Opportunity Tax Service
Capital Compliance
COMMUNITY

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Check City today announced the results of its successful partnership with the Three Square Food Bank to collect non-perishable food, water and hygiene products and cash donations for the second annual Check City Checks Hunger food drive. The food drive collected more than 3,100 pounds of food, water and hygiene products and raised $100,000 in monetary donations to benefit Three Square, which will use the funds to provide approximately 300,000 meals for struggling individuals and families at risk of hunger in Southern Nevada communities.

For this year's fundraising campaign, Check City initially committed to match every customer donation dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000. Upon the campaign's conclusion in April, the company was so inspired by the generosity of its customers, who collectively contributed $24,700, that it matched all donations to provide a $50,000 check to Three Square. Three Square corporate partners Barrick Gold Corporation and NV Energy Foundation generously agreed to match the monetary donations from Check City's campaign, which doubled the total to $100,000.

With 32 branches across the state, Check City has provided financial solutions and other services to Nevadans for 17 years. The company encourages its customers and employees to participate in various charity drives and volunteerism throughout the year. In 2015, Check City began its partnership with Three Square, the largest food bank in Nevada and Southern Nevada's only food bank providing food assistance to the residents of Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Clark Counties. In the partnership's inaugural year, Check City Checks Hunger collected 3,066 pounds of food and raised $14,700 in customer donations, which were matched dollar-for-dollar by Check City and rounded up to $30,000.

Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa received a $100,000 check from Amscot Financial to help fund its new veterinary hospital.

For the fourth consecutive year Amscot Financial, a leading provider of convenient, consumer-oriented financial services, is pleased to be a sponsor of the Annual Calle Ocho festival, scheduled to take place on March 13th in the heart of Miami's Little Havana district.

Once again Amscot Financial has partnered with the Hillsborough Water Safety Team, led by St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, to provide children from low-income families with free swimming lessons. On May 19, Amscot will present a check for $1,000. Thanks to this partnership, 30 children will learn to swim this summer.

Amscot Financial has stepped forward as a $10,000 Sponsor in an upcoming dinner benefiting 100 Black Men of America's Orlando Chapter. The dinner is part of the chapter's "Project Success Program," which will provide scholarships to African American high school students graduating in 2016.

Amscot Financial, a leading provider of convenient, consumer-oriented financial services, recently awarded mini-grants of $250 to $1,500 in support of 12 different non-profit service organizations located in the Florida communities where the company serves several million consumers.

Amscot Financial has donated a $2,500 sponsorship in support of the Inaugural Levi Henry, Jr. White Hat Award Gala recognizing community members who exemplify outstanding community service.

For Check Into Cash, 2016 has been a year of giving. Since January, Check Into Cash has awarded $500 to one lucky winner a month, plus a matching $500 donation to preselected monthly charities via Facebook giveaway. But this month's giveaway will be slightly different. For August, Check Into Cash will allow the lucky $500 winner to choose a school to receive the matching $500 donation!
Dreher Tomkies LLP
TLPP
Sherman & Associates
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Alternative Financial Service Providers Association
757.737.4088

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