At the same venue as Used Car Week, the National Automotive Finance Association awarded its Certified Consumer Credit Compliance Professional designation to its first graduating class following the completion of more than 24 hours of classroom training and 29 Web-based sessions.

The certification program was developed for the NAF Association by Hudson Cook and made possible by the financial support of the founding and sustaining sponsors.

The opening round of the program attracted students from banks and finance companies, dealers, device manufacturers and attorneys.

“We developed this challenging curriculum for those working in the auto finance industry to provide participants a valuable working knowledge of today's federal and state consumer financial services and compliance requirements, said Eric Johnson, Hudson Cook partner and co-curriculum developer and instructor.

“Those completing the program will be at the forefront of compliance preparation and training for themselves and the companies they represent,” Johnson continued.

Module 4 of the certification program was held in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in conjunction with the SubPrime Forum.

The program's final module had 94 of the 141 enrolled program participants in attendance. Having completed this final stage of the program and all the required testing,  the participants are now recognized as Certified Consumer Credit Compliance Professionals.

“The NAF Association has made a significant investment in this compliance program to assist the industry in facing the increasing regulatory requirements,” NAF Association executive director Jack Tracey said.

“The program was built to provide the best compliance education available,” Tracey continued.

Tracey went on to point out that Certified Consumer Credit Compliance Professionals become an important part of a company's compliance management system, demonstrating to regulators that a company's compliance staff has been able to meet the stringent requirements necessary to complete this program.

“The program offers great insight to the application of all consumer compliance regulations,” said program graduate Tony Myers of Regions Financial Corp.

The NAF Association is offering an opportunity to enroll in the program's next class which is being offered on Jan. 8 and 9 in Atlanta.

For information on the program curriculum and registration, visit www.nafassociation.com.

And for more information on the Consumer Credit Compliance Certification Program contact Tracey at (410) 865-5431 or jtracey@nafassociation.com.