Business Week ran this article about the exemption car dealerships received in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by the House. AFR opposed this exemption, as you can read about in our letter to Congress here (PDF). Here’s an excerpt from the Business Week article:
Lobbyists for car dealers have won a potentially valuable exemption from major consumer protection legislation recently approved by the House of Representatives and heading for the Senate. The bill would create a new federal agency to shield individuals from ambiguous and misleading financial deals offered by home lenders, credit-card companies, and other businesses. Notably left off the list are auto dealers. That’s no small loophole. Consumers hold $850 billion in car debt; dealers helped market 80% of that amount, and most collected fees for their services.
Consumer advocates counter that dealers play a critical role in pushing car loans—one similar to the function of mortgage brokers in the real estate market. Mortgage brokers would be covered under the version of the regulatory reform legislation that the House approved on Dec. 11. The bill’s chief sponsor, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), unsuccessfully opposed the auto dealer exemption.