The Creditor Lobby That Fought Trump, Betrayed The Troops, And Now Wants To Kill Debt Relief
An abused wife opens a credit card statement and discovers her abuser ran up $40,000 in her name. A soldier overseas finds out a predatory lender jacked his car-loan rate while he was deployed. A family buried under medical debt tries to negotiate a settlement with the help of a debt relief company. And a Washington lobby group spends millions making sure they can’t.
An abused wife opens a credit card statement and discovers her abuser ran up $40,000 in her name. A soldier overseas finds out a predatory lender jacked his car-loan rate while he was deployed. A family buried under medical debt tries to negotiate a settlement with the help of a debt relief company. And a Washington lobby group spends millions making sure they can’t.
Meet the American Financial Services Association. AFSA says it’s fighting for consumers. Don’t buy it. AFSA is a creditor trade group that has gone to war against domestic violence survivors, military families, and working Americans drowning in debt.
Yet just weeks ago, AFSA President and CEO Celia Winslow appeared before Congress to attack the debt relief industry, portraying it as a threat to consumers while presenting a one-sided picture of the facts. Before lawmakers accept AFSA as a credible voice for consumers, they should take a closer look at the organization’s own record.
The problem isn’t that AFSA represents creditors. That’s its job. The problem is that it presents itself as a champion for consumers while repeatedly opposing policies designed to protect them.
The record speaks for itself. AFSA lobbiesagainst legislation protecting domestic violence survivors. In 2026, AFSA sent letters to legislators in Maryland, Vermont, and Pennsylvania pushing to gut protections for domestic violence survivors—bills designed to help victims whose partners opened credit in their names or coerced them into debt. That happens to