Thomas B. Hudson of Hudson Cook writes on the firm’s website that a frequent question he encountered when speaking at industry conferences concerns whether a credit buyer can be required to buy a service contract.

In the context of auto sales, he explains, requiring a service contract in connection with the credit sale of a vehicle does not violate the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z.

“But the fact that federal disclosure laws don’t prohibit the practice doesn’t mean that the practice is not affected by them. In this case, the key to the application of federal law is the word ‘require.’ When a dealer requires a service contract in financing transactions, but not in similar cash transactions, the charge for the service contract must be treated as a finance charge, added to other finance charges and included in the APR calculation. That’s pretty basic,” Hudson writes.

Read the article.

Online lending companies are seeking to exert more influence in Washington under President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, reports Bloomberg.

Lenders are joining lobbying groups working toward laws that will make it easier for them to attract new borrowers and investors as they look for ways to grow and limit future regulatory scrutiny, writes Elizabeth Dexheimer.

Among the groups she cited are the Marketplace Lending Association, consumer lenders Avant Inc. and Affirm Inc. ,as well as student lender CommonBond Inc., backed by former Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit. Founding members include LendingClub Inc. and Prosper Marketplace Inc., according to the report.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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