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This is important:
Even the Defense Department has chimed in, sending a letter to the Treasury Department urging oversight of auto lenders because of a pattern of abusive lending to military personnel."We believe the intervention of the [Consumer Financial Protection Agency] in overseeing auto financing and sales for service members will help protect them and will assist us in reducing the concerns they have over their financial well-being," Defense Undersecretary Clifford Stanley wrote in a letter dated Feb. 26.The military is obviously one of the most highly regarded institutions in American life, and when it weighs in on behalf of service members, people tend to listen. If the Department of Defense believes that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency should cover auto lenders, among other non-bank lenders that some reform opponents want to exempt from regulation, that could go a long way toward convincing reluctant senators to support robust consumer protection.
-- Tim Fernholz
