Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Senate Likely to Vote to Rescind CFPB Indirect Auto Guidance

The Senate voted, 50-47, to debate whether to use the Congressional Review Act to rescind the CFPB Indirect Auto Guidance. As it is unlikely that a senator would vote both to debate the issue and retain the Guidance, that almost certainly means the Senate will vote to block the Guidance when it votes, probably tomorrow, on […]

FTC Commissioner McSweeny to Leave FTC Same Day Senate Scheduled to Vote on New Commissioners: April 28

Law360 has the story here. The other current FTC Commissioner, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, has been nominated to the bench and so will also leave soon. The Senate is to vote on four nominees–Joseph J. Simons, Rohit Chopra, Christine S. Wilson and Noah Joshua Phillips–on April 28th; the confirmation vote for a fifth nominee, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, has […]

My Suspicion About Why Mulvaney Has Dismissed Only One of Cordray’s CFPB Cases But Isn’t Bringing New Ones

by Jeff Sovern I have now listened to the Senate Banking Committee hearing at which Mr. Mulvaney testified about the CFPB (I still haven't heard the House Financial Services Committee hearing). I'm still trying to make sense of Mulvaney's claims about enforcement, which strike me as hard to reconcile. On the one hand, Mulvaney complained […]

Reports on Mulvaney’s Testimony Before the House Financial Services Committee

Mulvaney's written testimony is here. InsideArm.com has detailed coverage here. The LA Times story is here. Excerpt: Mulvaney acknowledged that although the bureau had averaged opening one new enforcement action a week under Cordray, he had launched none since taking over. That triggered astonishment from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). "Are you telling me that every […]

How Long Will Mulvaney (gulp!) Lead the CFPB?

by Jeff Sovern According to Politico, here's what Mulvaney himself said about it: POLITICO’s Katy O'Donnell: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning for the likelihood that acting Director Mick Mulvaney will remain in place through the end of the year, Mulvaney said today at a banking industry conference. “‘If it takes a year and […]

AP Report on Absence of CFPB Enforcement Actions

by Jeff Sovern AP is running a story, Under Trump, a Voice for the American Consumer Goes Silent, making a point that this blog has frequently noted. Excerpt: A review of a CFPB database obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information request shows that the bureau issued an average of two to four […]