WASHINGTON, D.C. -

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will host another field hearing focused on auto financing next month.

Bureau officials said on Thursday that this next session dedicated to this slice of the credit market will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Sept. 18 in Indianapolis.

The CFPB indicated the hearing will feature remarks from director Richard Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives and members of the public.

This event is open to the public, but RSVP is required to attend. Interested parties can send the bureau a request to cfpb.events@cfpb.gov.

Officials added they plan to host a live stream online that will be available on the CFPB’s blog.

When learning of the event, the American Financial Services Association said, "The CFPB did not provide any specifics on the topics to be addressed, although it typically uses its field hearings to make announcements.

"The bureau invited AFSA to participate in the field hearing to provide the industry’s perspective on vehicle finance. A member of the AFSA leadership, yet to be determined, will participate on a panel during the field hearing," AFSA officials continued.

The CFPB hosted a similar session in Washington, D.C., last November. Following Cordray’s opening presentation, the CFPB conducted two different panel sessions, one which included Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Bill Himpler, executive vice president of AFSA. The CFPB filled the other panel slots with officials from a wide array of consumer advocacy organizations.

After that auto finance forum, Dealertrack Technologies’ associate general counsel for compliance Randy Henrick told SubPrime Auto Finance News, “Going into it, I thought it would really be just a show for the CFPB, who had kind of stacked the panels with a bunch of consumer advocates. I’d like to believe the CPFB was doing something other than just showing to the Congress they could conduct an event and take comments.

“I thought industry panelists did a far better job articulating the legitimacy of their positions than consumer bar did. I thought the consumer bar was very shallow and not credible with a lot of their positions,” Henrick continued.

“I’d like to believe that the CFPB is actually listening and understanding that this issue is a lot more complex than what they initially thought. Certainly the comments from the industry and the Department of Justice support that,” Henrick went on to say.