Category Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

American Banker Reports House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling Resumes Attacks on CFPB

by Jeff Sovern Here.  According to the story, Representative Hensarling called the CFPB "Orwellian-titled."  So I guess he doesn't think the Bureau actually protects consumers (or maybe he thinks it isn't really a bureau).  I would love to hear Representative Hensarling's reasoning on that one.  Does he believe, for example, that clearer disclosures are harmful to […]

CFPB Wants Comments on Making Student Loans More Affordable

Here's an excerpt from the announcement: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is gathering information to develop options for policymakers to make repayment of private student loans more manageable for struggling borrowers. The CFPB has found that private student loan borrowers who wish to pay their loans, but face high payments, […]

Senator Warren and the Confirmation of Richard Cordray to Head the CFPB

Politico puts out an often-interesting email newsletter, titled Morning Money, every weekday. This morning's edition quoted "a person close to" Senator Elizabeth Warren as saying the following: 'It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that the large banks would have more ground to stand on with Elizabeth if they figured out a way to […]

Now that the OCC Head is Not a Bank Lobbyist, Republicans Want a Commission There Too

by Jeff Sovern The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bank regulator that, like the CFPB, has a single head rather than a commission structure and gets its funding outside the appropriations process.  I have pointed out before two things about this: first, that unlike with the CFPB, Republicans have been happy […]

CFPB Wants to Hear From Students

Here's the email they sent out:   Good afternoon,   We need your help to figure out what’s the deal with financial products marketed to students, like debit cards and checking accounts.   Email us at CFPB_StudentsFedReg@cfpb.gov by March 18 to tell us about any aspect of your experience.   That may include: Signing up for the card or account […]

Times Editorial on the Republican War on Consumer Protection and the CFPB

Quietly Killing a Consumer Watchdog. Excerpt: The consumer bureau has taken seriously its mandate to protect the public from the kinds of abuses that helped lead to the 2009 recession, and it has not been intimidated by the financial industry’s army of lobbyists. That’s what worries Republicans. They can’t prevent the bureau from regulating their […]

Does Senate “Advice and Consent” Always Require an Affirmative Vote?

For those of you following the controversy over President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB and the CFPB, Matthew Stephenson has an interesting essay in the current issue of the Yale Law Journal. Here's the abstract: It is generally assumed that the Constitution requires the Senate to vote to confirm the President’s nominees to principal […]