Leandra English, deputy director of the CFPB, announced late last week she will resign from the agency early this week, ending her legal fight to become the bureau’s acting chief. English said she made the decision “in light of the recent nomination of a new director,” according to a statement posted on the Twitter account of English’s attorney, Deepak Gupta. Gupta also posted a statement saying he and English will bring to an end a pending case that ...

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, a one-time presidential candidate, recently blasted Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney, calling him “Trump’s chief hatchet man extraordinaire.” Nader referred to Trump’s top aide as “easily one of the cruelest, most vicious presidential henchman in modern American history,” saying nowhere has Mulvaney “been more blatant about his ugly mission than in his efforts to freeze and dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection ...

Industry groups are calling on the CFPB to provide clarification of fair lending standards under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act as it applies to disparate impact, according to recently filed comment letters on inherited regulations. Among other things, lenders are asking the CFPB to review its use of disparate impact based on a Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Inclusive Communities. The case established a framework for the application of disparate impact ...

A federal judge in New York last week ruled that the structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional, creating a conflict with a D.C. circuit court ruling. The decision by Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York also said the CFPB cannot bring claims under the Consumer Financial Protection Act or pursue enforcement actions against the defendants in the case, RD Legal Funding and related entities. An en banc decision in January ...

President Trump last week nominated Kathy Kraninger, a little-known White House budget official, to head the CFPB. The nomination has set the stage for a contentious Senate confirmation process. Most observers were surprised by Trump’s CFPB pick as Kraninger’s name has never come up in public discussion of possible nominees to become the next director of the bureau. The first question for many was: Who is Kathy Kraninger? The nominee currently serves as ...

t is still a big question mark how Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to head the CFPB, will perform in Senate confirmation hearings. But the widely different reactions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers signal a contentious and drawn-out process. The White House last week officially sent the nomination of Kraninger to the Senate. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold a hearing on the nominee, which could ...

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney plans to cut the agency’s 2019 budget by 20 percent, bringing its spending down to roughly the level set in 2015. “I’ve asked them to run through the experiment of reducing spending by 20 percent,” to under $490 million, said the acting bureau chief in a recent round- table discussion with reporters. Mulvaney is also the director of the Office of Management and Budget. The CFPB later confirmed the spending cuts, noting that ...

Issuance of mortgage securities backed by USDA loans dropped during the first three months of 2018. Approximately $4.03 billion of rural housing loans with a USDA guarantee were delivered in Ginnie Mae MBS during the first quarter, down 18.3 percent from the previous quarter. Agency data also showed an 11.7 percent decline in USDA securitization volume from the same period a year ago. Rural housing loans accounted for 1.5 percent of all loans securitized in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae pools and 2.8 percent of loans with private or government-backed mortgage insurance. Purchase loans comprised the bulk of USDA loans that were delivered into Ginnie MBS pools. PennyMac knocked Freedom Mortgage out of first place with a total of $753.3 million in securitized USDA loans despite a 10.4 percent decline in production. Freedom Mortgage accounted for $523.3 million of USDA loans pooled in ... [Charts]

The CFPB fired all the members serving on three of its advisory boards, including the Consumer Advisory Board, indicating a shift in its approach to external engagement. The consumer agency announced last week that it plans to reconstitute three of its advisory groups – the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, and the Credit Union Advisory Council – with “new, smaller memberships.” “By both right-sizing its advisory ...

Acting Director Mick Mulvaney last week abruptly cancelled in-person meetings with the advisory groups, sparking concerns that he is shunning input from outside groups. Shortly afterwards, he disbanded three groups and announced plans to start from scratch. Mulvaney canceled a Consumer Advisory Board meeting scheduled for June 6 and 7, and a previous meeting in February, which the board members said had been on the looks for months. A Credit Union ...