ARA Government Relations/Repo Alliance Release on Our New Government

ARA Government Relations / Repo Alliance Release

UNITED STATES SENATE

The 2024 elections saw Republicans retake the majority in the United States Senate.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is Tim Scott (R-SC). Over the next several months, through our lobbyist at Van Scoyoc and Associates (VSA), members of the ARA Board and Government Affairs Committee, along with members of the Repo Alliance team, will be setting virtual meetings to introduce ARA to new members of the Banking Committee.

In addition, before The Repo Alliance Fly-In to Capitol Hill, we will renew contact with key members of both the House and Senate to arrange for in-person meetings to reiterate our industry concerns and concerns for the safety of consumers.

New Chairman Scott announced his priorities for the committee in the coming two years. They include the following:

Financial literacy to promote financial opportunity
Affordable housing solutions
Increased access to capital for entrepreneurs and individuals
Developing a framework for cryptocurrency
Protecting national security
Strong insurance markets, including reining in CFPB

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The 2024 elections saw Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives, though with Democrats gaining a single seat out of 435. This leaves Republicans with a 220-215 majority, the slimmest majority of either party in over 100 years.

On the House Financial Services Committee, Republicans will hold a 30-24 majority. New Chairman French Hill (R-AR) was a bank executive prior to his time in Congress. Though Hill has not outlined his priorities formally, he has mentioned a few in the past.

He considers the Financial Services Committee the “access to capital committee” for businesses and families
Hill wants to address digital asset policy
Hill wants to review the current framework for commercial banking
Hill wants to create more affordable housing
Supporting community banks against financial institution consolidation

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Subjects of great interest to our industry are the issues related to antitrust violations and abusive market practices. These issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Currently, the FTC is comprised of three Democratic and two Republican commissioners. Current FTC Chair Lina Khan has long been a leader against monopolistic companies and industries is being replaced as chair by Republican Andrew Ferguson. Ferguson’s primary lens through which he considers matters before the FTC is competition in markets — all markets.

In addition to Ferguson, Trump has nominated Mark Meador to serve as the fifth commissioner, giving Republican-appointed commissioners a three to two majority on the FTC board. The FTC has plans to repeal FTC rules related to non-compete clauses in contracts, citing that they do not meet the statutory bar to ban such clauses from contracts.

More generally, VSA anticipates that mergers and acquisitions, which slowed under Khan, will happen more rapidly under Ferguson. Will this include auto finance companies? It is too early to say.

IDEOLOGICAL CHANGE IN WASHINGTON MAY BE AN OPPORTUNITY

Though the second Trump Administration largely displays signs of regulators taking a lighter approach on businesses, that does not necessarily impede ARA’s opportunities to advance its interests. The new House committee chairman is skeptical of consolidation of the financial market, something ARA has long warned about. The new Senate committee chairman wants to enhance access to capital for families, something that repossessions reinforce. And at CFPB and FTC, new leaders will be promoting policies which expand competition, which would inhibit wild consolidation within the auto finance space.

Additionally, there could be a push for the new leaders to focus on saving everyday Americans from a myriad of potential abuses from lending giants. And finally, President Trump himself through his pledge to limit credit card interest rates at 10% shows that there is a limit to what the banking industry can get away with.

Whereas consumer harm was the primary message we have delivered to Congress and other federal agencies in the last four years, under the Trump Administration we will need to modify our message to reflect competition and public safety, in addition to consumer harm. ARA and the Repo Alliance will stand strong in delivering our message to those in congress and other governmental agencies. Look for further reports as the Trump administration takes shape and policy changes emerge.

ARA and Repo Alliance Report on the January 23rd CFPB Press Release