LAS VEGAS — The Federal Trade Commission is focused on streamlining its process for criminal investigative demands (CIDs) and easing the process for lenders, said agency Attorney Maricela Segura.
Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen made it a priority to simplify these subpoena procedures for financial institutions and dealerships that fall under regulatory scrutiny. The FTC does not examine auto lenders like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does; rather, it gathers a lender’s information via subpoena of a third-party partner.
The FTC is making sure “every CID just basically has a statement about the subject of the investigation,” Segura said during a regulator session at the Auto Finance Summit. “We try to make that more clear so that when you are reading it, you know who is being investigated and about what, so if you are a third party receiving it, it should be clear that you are not on the hot seat.”
Additionally, the FTC has shifted to asking only for the specific information it needs, rather than for all the information it can possibly get, she added.
“Hopefully, anyone who has received CIDs in the last few months is seeing a difference in the size of the package,” Segura said. “I have received feedback from people who have responded to say that it’s a much easier process and there is more transparency baked in now.”
For more coverage from the 2017 Auto Finance Summit, click here.
