About AFIP

The Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals is the sanctioning body for the F&I trade. AFIP sets the standard for technical competence and ethical conduct in the United States and assists in other countries (including Canada and many in Europe, South and Central America) as needed.

AFIP certifies in-dealership financial services personnel and provides a host of compliance and best practices products.

Over 55,000 Certifications Issued

Get Started

The Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals was the vision of Laurie DiGiovanni, an F&I executive who saw a need for the F&I industry to govern their own business practices and have an active voice regarding the laws that were to impact and define them. She envisioned an organization that would educate F&I personnel, encourage and offer support for compliance initiatives, and advocate on behalf of dealers and the industry at large.

With Laurie’s direction, AFIP was founded in 1989 by Ford Motor Credit Company, GMAC, Bank of America, Dealer Based Services (the company that was owned at the time by AFIP’s current executive director, David Robertson), and many others. Laurie eventually handed the reigns over to industry veteran and long-time personal and industry supporter, David Robertson, who runs the association to this day.

The AFIP Certification Program was created as a response to the barrage of changing regulations in the automobile finance industry.
AFIP began offering the state law module and the Walsh Institute for Ethical Behavior ethics module (in addition to the previous requirement to sign the Code of Ethics) in 2003. In 2004, AFIP launched the Senior Certification Course (recasting the existing AFIP Certification Course as the Basic Certification Course), making the AFIP Certification Program the first and only legal and ethical training continuing education program for in-dealership financial services personnel in the US. AFIP will soon launch the Master Certification Course to act as the third and final tier in AFIP’s program.

In 2007, AFIP launched the Enhanced AFIP Certification Program. The enhanced program features: the Carlaw F&I Legal Desk Book by the dealership lawyers at Hudson Cook in place of the old, bulky regulation-based text; an expanded multimedia set; a new course syllabus and study guide; online, on-demand testing at one of the hundreds of PSI (formerly LaserGrade) testing centers across the nation, and more!

AFIP has a threefold mission – to give a voice to the F&I practitioner; to protect the interests of the F&I profession, F&I professionals and their customers; and to support the companies that serve the F&I function.