Add this year’s National Remarketing Conference to the list of major industry events where discussion about the impact created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on tap.

Wait a minute.

You might be thinking the hallmarks of the NRC are connected with wholesale channels — vehicles moving from commercial consignors such as automakers and rental companies through the auction lanes or online sales and on to franchised and independent dealerships.

Well, Jason McCarter, a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in Atlanta, cautioned that auction managers and executives need to be aware of the CFPB, its enforcement actions and investigations, too.

Why?

McCarter pointed out that many commercial consignors also participate in indirect auto lending — which is squarely within the CFPB’s jurisdiction.

“A lot of commercial sellers at auction may have been indirect auto lenders and may be subject to direct CFPB oversight in one way or another,” McCarter told Auto Remarketing during a phone interview to preview the panel session about this topic and more at NRC.

Remarketing is a critical part of the back-end part of the business. When contracts fall into default and a repossession happens, plenty of state and federal mandates kick in as to how that collateral is liquidated and funds are recovered and connected back to the original contract terms.

McCarter stressed that finance companies and their recovery departments can end up “imposing reporting requirements on the auctions themselves as well as other parties they deal with.

“Their whole compliance program needs to consider third-party service providers and the role they play in their indirect auto loan portfolio. They pass on some of those requirements and compliance issues to the rest of the industry. There has to be some reporting.”

McCarter acknowledged he’s yet to see a direct inquiry by the CFPB into an auction similar to what the bureau has conducted through enforcement actions against operations such as Ally Financial and US Bank.

“But it seems to me that it’s sort of integral to the whole process of interacting with the consumer and what happens to the consumer,” McCarter said. “It ties directly into collection practices. It seems to me if the CFPB and other consumer regulators are focused on protecting consumer from loan abuses — and that certainly seems to be a focus — then it doesn’t seem like it will be long until they direct their attention to what happens on the back end of the transaction when the collateral is liquidated.

“To me, it seems like it’s got to be part of an overall compliance program — what are you doing with the collateral and how that’s going to effect the consumer on the front end,” he went on to say.

Typically, the primary regulators auctions interact with are on the state level, according to McCarter. Auctions need dealer licenses to conduct business in their respective state, a privilege that comes from agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Revenue.

During the panel discussion at NRC — which is presented by SmartAuction and runs from Nov. 12 through Nov. 14 at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas — McCarter, fellow Sutherland Asbill & Brennan partner Keith Barnett, and Manheim compliance director Jason Poulos plan to break their presentation down into four segments.

To learn more about these segments, stay tuned to the Sept. 1 print edition of Auto Remarketing for the complete version of this story. Additional information about the National Remarketing Conference — including details on this session and others in the agenda — can be found at nrc.autoremarketing.com. 

Also during Used Car Week, one of the key sessions at the CPO Forum will be “Top 10 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Your Store and Create a CPO Sales Champion,” which will feature:

Rod Rowley, from Larry Miller Group
Will Amiri,  from Longo Toyota and Longo Lexus
Kraig Quisenberry, from Lithia Motors/DCH Auto Group

This session will also include Auto Remarketing’s annual CPO Dealer of the Year. 

A complete CPO Forum agenda can be found at cpo.autoremarketing.com. 

Interested attendees for any of the four Used Car Week conferences should also note that the early pre-registration discount deadline is this coming Friday (Aug. 15). More information on Used Car Week can be found at UsedCarWeek.biz.