Obama Whack-a-Moles Autos

The auto finance sector has largely been left in the shadows of the mortgage sector when it comes to regulatory reform in this post-credit-crisis era.

Until today.

In an aggressive speech in the wake of meeting CEOs of the nation’s 12 largest banks, President Barack Obama did what hasn’t been done to date: equated auto lending with mortgage lending when it comes to purported “misleading and dishonest practices.” He said:

I urged [bankers] to work with us in Congress to finish the job of reforming our financial system to bring transparency and accountability to the financial markets; to ensure that the failure of one bank or financial institution won’t spread throughout the entire system, and to help protect consumers from misleading and dishonest practices with products like credit and debit cards, with mortgages and auto and payday loans.

Since when do auto loan origination practices deserve to be in the same sentence as mortgage or payday loan making?

Mark your calendars, folks. The tide has turned today.