Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, who recently raised some questions about the ethics standards that apply to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney and members of his Office of Management and Budget staff who are doing double duty with both agencies, also has some questions about how certain record-keeping and communication requirements are going to be carried out in the unusual set-up. “Given the dual roles for Mr. Mulvaney and his staff, I am also concerned about record-keeping and other procedures in place to ensure that their work remains separate and subject to appropriate Presidential Records Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other recordkeeping and transparency requirements, and is categorized correctly for these purposes,” Warren said. Her concerns were raised in a ...

Democrat state attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia wrote President Trump earlier this month, vowing to ramp up their enforcement efforts if the bureau backs off under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, and taking issue with his appointment to the position. “As you know, state attorneys general have express statutory authority to enforce federal consumer protection laws, as well as the consumer protection laws of our respective states,” the AGs said. “We will continue to enforce those laws vigorously regardless of changes to CFPB’s leadership or agenda.” They reminded the president that, as attorneys general, they retain broad authority to investigate and prosecute individuals or companies that deceive, scam or otherwise harm consumers. “If incoming CFPB leadership ...

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that examiners in the agency’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection need to do a better and more consistent job of reviewing lenders’ compliance with the CFPB’s ability-to-repay and loan originator compensation rules. The ATR rule directed most mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good-faith determination, at or before loan consummation, that a consumer would have a reasonable ability to repay a residential mortgage loan according to its terms. Some lenders and loan programs are exempt from this requirement. The LO comp rule placed limits on loan originator compensation and imposed new requirements on loan originators. Both rules took effect Jan. 10, 2014....

Congress on Thursday passed a stopgap-spending bill to prevent a potential government shutdown and to give lawmakers time to negotiate crucial issues. The House voted 235-193 to pass the measure. A short time later, the Senate quickly approved it 81-14. The temporary spending bill will keep the government running through Dec. 22. The continuing resolution or CR, that has kept the government open would have expired on Dec. 8. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to adjourn on Dec. 15. Congress will need to pass a final appropriations bill or another continuing resolution to keep the government operating after Dec. 22. Despite differences over tax reform, FY 2018 budget, immigration, health care and other issues, lawmakers do not want a shutdown, mortgage industry sources said. Republicans, in particular, hope to enact their $1.5 trillion tax package by Christmas. On the other hand, ...

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s choice to serve as acting director of the CFPB, assumed control of the agency Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, and quickly established a dramatically different direction for the agency, one far less hostile to the financial services industry. In his first press conference as acting director, one week ago, Mulvaney shook things up while trying to strike a more balanced approach, one far less hostile towards the financial services community. “This is an ordinary course of business in Washington, DC. What you’re witnessing today at the CFPB happens at every single agency every couple of years, which is a transition,” he said. [Includes a timeline chart.]

During his first press conference as acting director of the CFPB, Mick Mulvaney spelled out the charge he was given in taking control of the agency, and elaborated upon his view of the bureau as a regulatory entity that has overstepped its bounds. “[President Trump] wants me to fix it,” Mulvaney began. “He wants me to get it back to the point where it can protect people without trampling on capitalism, without choking off the access to financial services that are so critical to so many folks.” He then cited the “many folks who are in the lower and middle classes, folks who are trying to start their own businesses, people who are trying to break out, people who are ...

The biggest CFPB story of the year – which appointee is authorized to head up the agency in the case of a resignation of the director – involves competing legal arguments interpretations of two federal laws.Deputy Director Leandra English is relying on the CFPB succession provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, while Acting Director Mick Mulvaney and the Trump White House are relying on the text of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The crux of their respective arguments to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia follows. English’s brief to the court declared: “The Dodd-Frank Act is clear on this point: It mandates that the deputy director ‘shall serve as the acting director in the absence or unavailability of the

One of the most surprising aspects of the sudden drama associated with the departure of Richard Corday as director of the CFPB – who started at the bureau with a cloud of controversy and left it the same way – is that the bureau’s own general counsel, Mary McLeod, supported the position of the Trump administration in the struggle for control of the agency. “Questions have been raised whether the president has the authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to designate Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as the acting director of CFPB following the resignation of Richard Cordray ..., even if the deputy director otherwise could act under 12 U.S.C. §5491(b)(5),” she said in a memorandum ...

Now that U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly has affirmed Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s choice to serve as acting director of the CFPB, one unresolved issue is the fate of his rival for the throne, Leandra English, whom Richard Cordray selected to be deputy director in his last official act before resigning. It’s possible that Mulvaney could flat out fire her, and he intimated last week that was a possibility – his argument being that she didn’t show up for work that day. However, multiple press accounts claimed she did in fact report for duty. One attorney closely following the case conceded, “I think she’s in a tough spot. While she could continue to press her claims in the hope of ...

The mortgage industry continues to have serious consumer privacy and data concerns with the CFPB’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act proposed guidance. But with new leadership in place, the bureau has a great chance to deal with the issues in a more appropriate manner, according to the Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable. With new Acting Director Mick Mulvaney in place, the bureau could change course, electing to satisfy the statutory obligation to follow a formal rule-making process and also reconsidering the CFPB’s position regarding the disclosure of loan-level data, according to Ed DeMarco, president of FSR’s HPC. “Securing sensitive consumer data is a top priority for the financial industry,” said DeMarco, the former chief of the Federal Housing ...