Mulvaney Offers Four-Step Plan to Change CFPB Operations

Apr 02, 2018

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, has published a 36-page report criticizing how Mick Mulvaney has run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its semi-annual report, which included a four-part strategy by Acting Director Mick Mulvaney for statutory changes to the agency’s structure and operations.

Mulvaney’s recommendations require changes to the Dodd-Frank Act that would realign the CFPB away from its current standalone status. In the report, Mulvaney recommended funding the CFPB through Congressional appropriations—it is now funded via the Federal Reserve—and he also called for legislative approval of all major CFPB rules, ensuring the CFPB director answers directly to the President, and creating an independent Inspector General for the bureau. However, he did not call for replacing the director with a commission leadership structure.

“The Bureau is far too powerful, with precious little oversight of its activities,” said Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. “The power wielded by the director of the bureau could all too easily be used to harm consumers, destroy businesses, or arbitrarily remake American financial markets. I’m requesting that Congress make four changes to the law to establish meaningful accountability for the bureau. I look forward to discussing these changes with Congressional members.”

As for the report, it covered the CFPB’s significant work from April 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2017, including enforcement actions taken against the mortgage servicing, student loan servicing, credit reporting and debt collection industries. According to the report, during the period Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017, the CFPB handled approximately 317,200 consumer complaints, with the most complaints regarding credit reporting (27 percent) and mortgages (13 percent).

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Apr 02, 2018

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