Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Who Will Trump Nominate to Head the CFPB?

by Jeff Sovern Several names have surfaced. Both the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal have mentioned the possibility of George Mason Law professor Todd Zywicki.  The American Banker has a slide show of potential directors here (free content). I fear the nominee will be someone who believes that consumer protection largely consists of […]

Arbitration Opt-Outs Hit a New Low: Now They Are Undeliverable

by Jeff Sovern Some arbitration clauses permit consumers to opt out of arbitration and class action waivers provided the consumer acts within a stated period. For example, Asana provides in § 13.8 of its Terms of Service for a 30-day opt-out. Those wishing to opt out are instructed to send "written notice of your decision to opt […]

Kate Berry Asks Did CFPB’s Cordray fake out Trump and GOP?

The story is in the American Banker. The theory is that by refusing to rule out a run for the governorship of Ohio, Cordray led Trump to believe that he could avoid the political heat he would take by firing Cordray because Cordray would quit anyway.  Indeed, firing Cordray might even make him a political […]

Anticonsumer Advocates Try to Talk Trump into Firing CFPB Director Cordray

by Jeff Sovern According to a CNBC story, Trump wants to sack consumer protection chief but is afraid of turning him into hero for the left, during the signing of the resolution to rescind the CFPB arbitration rule, a session that, as far as I know, was attended only by representatives of the financial services industry, members […]

Is There Any Chance the President Will Allow the CFPB Arbitration Rule to Go Into Effect?

by Jeff Sovern Allison blogged earlier about CFPB Director Cordray's letter to the president urging him to allow the CFPB arbitration rule to go into effect.  While it would be wonderful if the president did so, there are many reasons to think he won't.  Among these: as regular readers will know, Vice President Pence broke […]

Updated Version of Why We Need to Save the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Here, in The Conversation. Excerpt: The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cripple the CFPB by, for example, taking away the power it used to fine Wells Fargo for opening illegal accounts and concealing its complaint database from public view. In other words, it would force the bureau to sit idly by as financial institutions lie to […]

Senate Could Vote on CRA Resolution to Block Arbitration Rule Tonight . . .

by Jeff Sovern . . .  or  it could come later in the week. Or not. My speculation is that the Senate leadership will call the vote if they think they have the votes to pass the resolution but otherwise they will let it go until closer to the deadline. So the real question is […]

Am Banker Reports on Economists Who Are Critical of the OCC Claims in the CFPB-OCC Data Dispute

by Jeff Sovern The article, by Kate Berry and Ian McKendry, is headlined Fight to kill CFPB arbitration rule could rest on whose data is right. Here's some of what the article says about the OCC claims, though the article has more than I can insert here. "The uncertainty of the OCC's estimate is very large, […]