How Veros Credit Tackles the Turbulent Regulatory Environment
As we’ve written here on this blog at least a couple times before, the recent changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have savvy lenders dedicating more resources to compliance, not less.
We’re not just saying that because we’re a compliance company—it’s what we’re hearing from our customers.
Just take a look at Veros Credit, for example. At the Auto Finance Performance and Compliance Summit last month, Veros’s Chief Legal Officer Robert Tennant told attendees that the company is responding to the current regulatory environment by hiring more customer service staff and focusing on improving compliance outcomes. The people and agencies in charge may come and go, but a well-developed culture remains firm—and firmly defensible. Given the shifts at the Bureau under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney and the simultaneous rise of state attorneys general, Tennant is confident that the best compliance programs are the ones that can withstand uncertainty and change.
In an interview with Auto Finance News, Robert elaborates:
“From a compliance standpoint, the regulatory environment is still a little bit murky. We’re not sure exactly where the bright line is—the rules are always moving around—but we try to filter everything through that lens: Are we providing the best customer service? Are our customers happy? Is every communication we have with customers clear, concise, and simple to understand? Are we spotting challenge areas early? That’s how you deal with a turbulent regulatory environment: just try to be better at collecting.”
Robert goes on to talk about how Veros combined “its compliance principles and policies with the general training of the entire company,” his hopes for clearer interpretations of laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, his advice for other lenders, and more.
