The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) is urging lawmakers to include a provision that would protect service members from unscrupulous financing practices by automobile dealers in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act, now under consideration by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Though the measure includes numerous consumer protections, FRA says that excluding "auto dealers and their lending practices from the financial reform bill" is a mistake. Citing Defense Department statistics, "Informal polling data … shows 72 percent of military attorneys and personal financial advisors counseled service members in the past six months on one or more unscrupulous practices associated with auto financing," FRA said in an article on its Web site. Auto dealers frequently target service members for bait-and-switch financing, falsification of loan documents, failure to pay off liens, and so-called "packing loans," which may allow loans to proceed with inadequate collateral. FRA’s legislative director, John Davis, scheduled a meeting with committee staff to discuss the organization’s concerns. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn, is sponsoring the measure.
