Guinta's Auto Lending Bill Gets Through Committee

Yesterday, the House Committee on Financial Services passed U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta’s strongly bipartisan bill to protect Granite State consumers, help New Hampshire auto dealers and increase oversight and accountability at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to a press statement.

Guinta, R-NH, introduced H.R. 1737 – the Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act of 2015 – with U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) to rescind flawed guidance from the CFPB issued in a way that blatantly denies public participation and due process and harms consumers by limiting their ability to obtain discounted auto financing.

“In 2013, the CFPB implemented guidance which has threatened auto dealers flexibility to discount interest rates for consumers and severely decreased competitiveness in the auto industry market. Even worse, the CFPB issued the flawed guidance without providing a public comment period for consumers, small businesses or stakeholders,” said Rep. Frank Guinta. “This bipartisan bill will provide as many opportunities as possible for Granite Staters -- from the single, working mother in Manchester to the small business owner on the Seacoast to the hunters of the north country-- to receive the best financing required to achieve car ownership. I look forward to this bill going to the House floor where it will be voted on.”

H.R. 1737 would repeal a faulty CFPB guidance denying the public a chance to comment on regulations directly impacting them. The CFPB has used this guidance to pressure lending institutions into eliminating the availability of auto financing discounts and change the auto lending market completely. These discounts save consumers millions of dollars every year. H.R. 1737 is common-sense, bipartisan legislation aimed at providing transparency, fairness and due process to this Administration’s regulatory regime.

“We commend Congressman Guinta for leading the bipartisan effort to repeal the CFPB’s flawed guidance on indirect auto financing and standing up for consumers and small business auto dealers in New Hampshire and throughout the nation,” said Peter Welch, president of the National Automobile Dealers Association.

“As a matter of principle, consumers have the right to negotiate, the right to seek a better deal, and the right to choose the loan that’s best for them, but the CFPB has been trying to take that right away,” Welch added. “When you’re paying $30,000 for a car and stretching to do it, consumers should have every possible financial advantage possible. No government institution should deny that. That’s not what Washington is supposed to do.”

Joining Congressman Guinta and Congressman Perlmutter, this strong bipartisan bill has 126 cosponsors. H.R. 1737 passed the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 47-10. H.R. 1737 now awaits consideration by the House of Representatives.

For a copy of H.R. 1737, please click here.