Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

American Banker: 3 questions to make or break Kraninger’s CFPB nomination

Here, by Victoria Finkle (free content). Excerpt: Perhaps the biggest hurdle Kraninger will encounter is demonstrating a familiarity with the consumer protection laws she would be tasked with overseeing, given her lack of industry experience. Some in banking continue to speculate whether the White House tapped her for the post as a serious bid — […]

Questions for Kraninger at the Confirmation Hearing Thursday

by Jeff Sovern Allied Progress has posted a list of ten questions for Kathy Kraninger at her confirmation hearing Thursday. The list includes many excellent questions, but I would love to see her also asked specific questions about consumer law because I am curious to see how much she knows about the laws she will interpret […]

NBC News Story About How Potential SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh “could reverse a century of financial regulation”

by Jeff Sovern Here.  Kavanaugh, of course, took the position in PHH that the CFPB is unconstitutional as currently structured.  Whether other potential nominees would have felt differently if they had decided PHH is unknown.

Conservative Kraninger Critic’s Op-Ed

by Jeff Sovern I don't often agree with J.W. Verret of George Mason, who formerly served as chief economist and counsel to Jeb Hensarling's House Financial Services Committee. But his warnings on CFPB director-nominee Kathy Kraninger deserve attention. Now he has written an op-ed for the National Review, Kathy Kraninger Is the Wrong Choice to Lead […]

Paper on the Use of Proxies to Determine Race/Ethnicity in Assessing Fair Lending

Yan Zhang of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has written Assessing Fair Lending Risks Using Race/Ethnicity Proxies, 64 Management Science (January 2018). Here is the abstract: Fair lending analysis of non-mortgage credit products often involves proxying for race/ethnicity since such information is not required to be reported. Using mortgage data, this paper […]

My Latest Op-Ed: Mick Mulvaney turned the CFPB from a forceful consumer watchdog into a do-nothing government cog

Here.  Excerpt: Kraininger’s supporters have noted that she acquired considerable managerial experience as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget and deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. That may help her with management issues, but it’s hard to see how it will help her make decisions about which cases to bring […]

CFPB Drops Another Matter

by Jeff Sovern According to HousingWire, the CFPB has informed Zillow that it is dropping its investigation into Zillow for RESPA violations. We know about this because of a Zillow SEC filing. We will never know how many CFPB investigations have been dropped into companies that are not subject to SEC filing requirements. Nor can […]

Industry Publication Reports Mulvaney “Lobbying Hard” for Kraninger and Infers that Kraninger Will Carry on Mulvaney’s Legacy

by Jeff Sovern AccountsRecovery.Net has a story, Mulvaney Lobbying Hard For Kraninger, Despite Saying He Wants To Stay Out of Process, which reports: Mulvaney has spoken out publicly in favor of Kraninger’s nomination and the report [in The Hill] said that Mulvaney has reached out to several Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee, which will […]