CARY, N.C. -

Two auto industry leaders who have close relationships with Rick Hackett, the assistant director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau whose jurisdiction included vehicle financing, shared nothing but glowing assessments of the regulator who announced he was leaving the agency by the end of the month.

FinCo Management president Toby Reiley used words like "humble" and "integrity" when discussing where the industry goes from here in regard to potential CFPB regulation.

"He has established the base from which we're going to work," said Reiley, whose company is a provider of financing solutions for buy-here, pay-here dealers. "The question that comes down now is what are the regulations that will come out of the CFPB."

Just when the industry got closely acquainted with the primary regulator from the CFPB who oversees auto financing, word came this week that Hackett was departing the bureau. The CFPB already has a posting on its website seeking applicants for Hackett's replacement.

For the past two years, Hackett has been one of the more visible CFPB officials at industry events. Earlier this month during the NAF Association's 17th annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference, Hackett participated in a question-and-answer session with Hudson Cook chairman Tom Hudson that served as the keynote portion of the event.

One of the largest contingents ever to attend the conference — more than 300 finance company executives, service providers and legal advisers — heard Hackett answer more than a dozen questions submitted in advance by the NAF Association. Topics ranged about the legality of dealer participation to what constitutes a compliant according to the CFPB.

Hackett said back on June 6, "The message is we try to give you the most accurate information as we can."

Hackett also reached out to the industry during other events, too, such as the Consumer Bankers Association's annual gathering and the Vehicle Finance Conference orchestrated by the American Financial Services Association.

"Nobody, and I mean nobody, could have done that job better than Rick did it," said Hudson, who was on the dais with Hackett for nearly an hour during the NAF Association session, marking the second year in a row the two have collaborated to inform the industry about the CFPB's intentions.

Hackett arrived at the CFPB in 2011 after being a founder of the banking and financial services group at Pierce Atwood in Maine.

"I have no hesitation in saying that my work with CFPB has been the most rewarding, most challenging and most physically tasking assignment I have had in 35 years," Hackett said in his farewell message obtained by Auto Remarketing last week.

"Of particular importance to me are the relationships I have been privileged to develop with bureau stakeholders, who have taught me critical information about the relationship of government and its stakeholders, the complexity of policy formulation, and the importance of frank and transparent exchange of ideas," he continued.

Hackett's department pushed out guidance in March concerning indirect auto lending. Since that time, Reiley and Hudson have been part of an industry cohort attempting to educate the CFPB about the intricacies of auto financing and defending dealers and lenders from scrutiny over rate markups and more.

"Rick made great efforts to research so thoroughly that those who are operating correctly within not only the letter but the intent of the law have nothing to be afraid of," Reiley said. "However, those who are more than pushing the envelope, those who are taking advantage of it, need to stand up and take up notice that as soon as these regulations trickle down to be enforced at the local level, it should clean up the buy-here, pay-here industry."

Meanwhile, Hudson and Hackett share a relationship that dates back 30 years. During the NAF Association's conference, Hudson joked about how he knew the name of Hackett's dog and used it as an icebreaker before the complicated questions and answered that followed.

"That's life in a regulated industry. People come and people go," Hudson said. "Car industry folks will need to reintroduce themselves to the new person and start the educational and familiarization processes over again."

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.