Several years ago, I wrote two blogs issuing challenge questions: 

• Can You Name all the Required Notices Applicable to Consumer Loan and Credit Sales Transactions?
• Can You Name all the Federal Consumer Finance Policies that are Applicable to Consumer Loan and Credit Sales Companies?

I’ve also written about the many federal laws, rules and regulations that affect the contract relationship between creditor and consumer (Remember that our Notes and Contracts Reflect Both State and Federal Law). I think that it is a valuable exercise for us to review the notices, policies, laws, rules and regulations from time to time to make certain that nothing relating to compliance slips through the cracks. 

My challenge to you for today is to ask if you can name all of the federal agencies that uniquely touch and concern the lending practices of consumer finance companies? Do you think there are 2, 4, 6, more? 

Well, let’s see—starting with the Federal Trade Commission organized in 1914, and ending with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau organized in 2011, I can think of:

• The Federal Reserve Board
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development
• The Federal Housing Administration
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
• The Department of Defense
• The Federal Communications Commission
• The U.S. Small Business Administration
• The Internal Revenue Service

So, I come up with ten separate federal agencies that the industry looks to for guidance in its everyday business activities. And, I may have forgotten some! This is why I always say that the consumer finance industry is highly regulated.

Please Note: This is the two hundred-twenty-second blog in a series of Back to Basics blogs, in which relevant and resourceful information can be easily accessed by clicking Dentons - Consumer Finance Report.