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United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Confirm Cordray Already!

Amy TraubMay 21, 2013
NCRC

The Senate confirmation vote on Richard Cordray this week won’t have much to do with Richard Cordray.

As I wrote when the Senate Banking Committee considered the Cordray nomination back in March, nobody disputes the idea that the former Ohio Attorney General, who has led the CFPB since January 2012, is highly competent and supremely qualified to continue in his position. Nor is the impact of the agency itself in doubt: in 2012 alone, 6 million U.S. consumers received refunds from financial services companies as a result of CFPB enforcement actions, according to Americans for Financial Reform, and the agency has handled more than 130,000 consumer complaints since it opened its doors less than two years ago.

Whether it’s protecting consumers from the type of reckless and deceptive mortgage lending that sparked the economic downturn or beginning to oversee the massive credit reporting companies that shape the financial lives of American consumers, the CFPB has proven itself to be a critical consumer watchdog.

Killing Dodd-Frank Softly

To block financial regulations, industries and their congressional allies delay, delay, delay—and if necessary, sue.

Patrick CaldwellSep 17, 2012
(Flickr/Emmanuel Huybrechts)

On August 16, a group of 32 members of Congress—27 Republicans and 5 Democrats—sent a seemingly innocuous request to Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, regarding a new rule on international money transfers. "We urge you to delay the effective date of these rules and to undertake a comprehensive study of their impact before moving forward to avoid irreparable harm to consumers," they wrote. The regulation, set to go into effect in January, will force companies to disclose the full extent of the fees they charge when people send money overseas. While the letter raised concerns about the rule, the members of Congress didn’t ask the CFPB to scrap it; instead, they entreated Cordray to hold off on the rule until January 2015.

Richard Shelby Can't Make Up His Mind

The lead CFPB opponent wasn't always against the idea of a single director.

Patrick CaldwellSep 04, 2012
(Flickr/Medill DC)

Republicans haven't been shy about voicing their distaste for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Many opposed the very creation of the new federal regulator created under the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. Yet no element of the CFPB has quite raised their ire as much as the structure of the agency. Unlike many other federal regulators (SEC, CFTC, FDIC to name a few) CFPB rules are not dictated by a board of commissioners; instead the agency's director has sole discretion on finalizing regulations. Republicans reject this as a sign of too much power in one unelected office.

Foreclosure Free-For-All

The CFPB is getting resistance from its allies on proposed mortgage policies. 

Patrick CaldwellAug 30, 2012
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

It's almost four years since the economy cratered, yet 11 million homes—accounting for 23 percent of all outstanding mortgages— remain underwater. The Obama administration's efforts to shore up the housing market by offering incentives for refinancing, rather than the government directly purchasing loans, has been an utter failure; countless homeowners have been left desperately negotiating with their lenders to modify the terms of their loan and more often than not, being tossed onto the street by mortgage servicers.