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 ...
Overshadowed by all the drama associated with the resignation of CFPB Director Richard Cordray and the struggle over who is to serve as his temporary replacement was some potentially significant legislative activity on Capitol Hill. A number of bills were recently introduced or are in the process of facing votes that could affect the CFPB, some of its rulemakings and the regulations it enforces. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-WI, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, late last week introduced bicameral legislation to restrain the CFPB’s rates of pay. Specifically, the legislation, H.R.4499, the CFPB Pay Fairness Act, would require the director of the bureau to ...
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 ...
As the CFPB prepares to move forward with a new strategic plan – which may well be revised, now that Mick Mulvaney is in charge – the mortgage industry again called on the bureau to move beyond “regulation by enforcement.” Instead, it should provide more of the detailed guidance lenders and servicers and other participants need to fully comply with the agency’s rules and regulations and best serve consumers, top industry representatives said. In a recent comment letter to the bureau, the Mortgage Bankers Association noted that the CFPB is at an inflection point in 2017. Now it can “pivot and focus its resources on providing supervision and binding, authoritative guidance that helps responsible parties, including those in the mortgage industry, comply ...
The CFPB and VA recently issued their first WARNO, or “warning order,” to members of the U.S. armed forces and veterans with VA home loans, urging them to stay on their toes and avoid deceptive mortgage refinance offers. “If you have a VA home loan, then there is a good chance that you have already come into contact with unsolicited offers to refinance your mortgage that appear official and may sound too good to be true,” the two agencies said. Many of these solicitations promise extremely low interest rates, thousands of dollars in cash back, the ability to skip mortgage payments, and no out-of-pocket costs or waiting period. “Don’t be fooled,” the CFPB and VA said. “Before responding to any ...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, wrote to Don McGahn, White House counsel, and CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, in his capacity as director of the Office of Management and Budget, last week for answers to questions she has about Mulvaney and other OMB personnel simultaneously serving at the consumer bureau. First, she wanted to know what staff from OMB or elsewhere in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) have accompanied Mulvaney to the CFPB. She requested a complete list of all such staff, their title at OMB or in the EOP, and their title at the CFPB. Warren also sought the authority under which these individuals are working at CFPB. “Have these individuals been appointed to CFPB, or detailed to ...
Republican Senators Threaten to Undo any CFPB Rules Issued Under an English Regime. Last week, nine senators said they would work to invalidate any new rules promulgated by the bureau if Leandra English prevails in her attempts to unseat and replace the bureau’s acting director, Mick Mulvaney.... Mulvaney Taps Hensarling Aide. Is the Congressman Next? CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has named House Financial Services Committee Senior Counsel Brian Johnson to serve him as a senior adviser, late-breaking press reports indicated. ...
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