PREDATORY CAR DEALERS SUCKING THE BLOOD OUT OF MILITARY FAMILIES

You can’t stoop much lower than to take advantage of unknowledgeable and unsuspecting servicemen and their families! Even those who are against government regulations should strongly favor government oversight of car dealers who cater to military families.

FTC INVESTIGATES MILITARY CAR DEALS
By Jerry Reynolds

The Car Pro Weekly
July 7, 2011

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will examine whether dealerships try to exploit military personnel and their families in the second of a series of public roundtables on dealer practices.

The roundtable will take place Aug. 2-3 in San Antonio, the FTC said in a statement on its Web site.

Roundtable topics include "motor vehicle sales and financing issues pertaining to military consumers, fair lending and financial literacy," the statement said.

The agency has said it plans to convene as many as five roundtables this year to determine "what consumer-protection issues, if any, exist that could be addressed through a possible rule-making or other initiatives."

During the congressional battle last year over whether dealerships should be overseen by the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Pentagon weighed in on behalf of military families.

Undersecretary of Defense Clifford Stanley argued unsuccessfully that dealers should fall under the new agency's oversight.

"There are still documented cases of service members falling victim to predatory practices and prohibitively expensive products," Stanley said in a Feb. 2010 letter to the Treasury Department.

A Pentagon survey found 72 percent of 659 counselors and attorneys on military installations had counseled service members in the previous six months on deceptive auto-financing practices, the letter said.

The National Automobile Dealers Association has been invited to participate at the upcoming roundtable.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is to be up and running July 21, oversees the financial institutions that provide loans to auto consumers.

An office within the new agency was created to educate military families about financial issues and protect them from unscrupulous lenders.

The office is to be headed by Holly Petraeus, wife of Gen. David Petraeus, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to head the Central Intelligence Agency.