Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Some Problems with the Trump Administration’s Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System

by Jeff Sovern Last Friday, President Trump announced an Executive Order on Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System.  Here is the list: (a) empower Americans to make independent financial decisions and informed choices in the marketplace, save for retirement, and build individual wealth; (b) prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts; (c) foster economic growth and […]

Bloomberg Report Indicates Congressional Republicans Hitting Roadblocks in Dodd-Frank Overhaul

Here. Excerpt: President Donald Trump’s pledge to dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul is colliding with the same reality as his pledge to gut Obamacare: The Republican majority in Congress can’t decide how to make it happen and Democrats are vowing to fight. * * * On the House side, there’s no agreement on a plan to […]

CNBC: Despite critics’ claims, Dodd-Frank hasn’t slowed lending to business or consumers

Here.  Excerpt: "We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank," [President Trump] told a group of bankers and other corporate executives [on Friday, when signing an Executive Order pertaining to Dodd-Frank], "because, frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that have nice businesses that can't borrow money. They just can't get […]

NCLC’s Lauren Sanders in USA Today: Protect our troops, not Wall Street

Here.  Excerpt (but the whole piece is worth reading): Young servicemembers are often easy targets for financial firms marketing loans with ultra-high interest rates. Tens of thousands of servicemembers have benefited from the CFPB’s actions. The agency worked with state attorneys general to secure debt relief for 17,000 servicemembers tricked into taking out high-cost loans for computers, video […]

Politico: Trump Admin Divided Over Firing Cordray, Has Spoken to Todd Zywicki About the Job

Here. Excerpts: “There has been talk of getting rid of Cordray, but I think they're trying to figure out what they can do and what [Trump] will actually go along with,” said a person close to the administration. Lawyers who say they’re providing guidance to the White House declined to comment for the record or […]

WSJ: Financial Choice Act 2.0 Could be Introduced This Week

Here (behind paywall). House Financial Services Committee Chair's Financial Choice Act, passed last fall by the committee,  is expected to be introduced again in a revised version as soon as this week. While Senate Democrats can usually block legislation by using the filibuster, as long as they hold together, the WSJ reports that some aspects of […]

What Wells Fargo’s Survival After Defrauding Millions Tells Us About the Free Market: It Isn’t Enough to Stop Misconduct

by Jeff Sovern As well-covered on this blog and elsewhere, Wells Fargo employees opened millions of sham accounts for customers, for which they have paid fines and suffered reputational damage. During the House Financial Services Committee September hearing on the Wells fiasco, some Republican committee members berated Wells Fargo's then-CEO, John Stumpf, for giving ammunition to […]

CBS News: Senate Republicans aim to gut debit-card safeguards

Here. This is about the resolution we reported about on Thursday to block the CFPB's prepaid debit cards rule from going into effect.  The resolution has now drawn the support of seven senators. Excerpt: A spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee said that the “CFPB’s prepaid card rule is overly broad” and would increase compliance costs. […]