CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger faced criticism from Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about recent bureau activities related to fair lending sanctions, the Military Lending Act examination and the new payday lending rule proposal.

The CFPB appears to have shifted away from addressing lending discrimination via enforcement actions, according to the bureau’s first semi-annual report to Congress under Director Kathy Kraninger. The report covers bureau activities from April 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2018.

State regulators will likely put more effort into enforcing fair lending laws, even as the CFPB continues to reassess the use of the disparate-impact theory under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

The CFPB last week released a fair lending report covering the agency’s activity in 2017. The report generally summarized the bureau’s past fair lending efforts and laid out its priorities.

A union representing CFPB employees recently asked the agency to halt the reorganization of the fair lending office, alleging the bureau did not bargain with the union in good faith. The reorganization was announced in January, but the CFPB is still negotiating the matter with the National Treasury Employees Union. The NTEU in late October filed a mass grievance against the CFPB over its handling of racially tinged blogs posted by Eric Blankenstein

The CFPB is expected to limit the use of disparate-impact analysis under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as the agency intends to rewrite the ECOA rule, according to attorneys tracking the issue.

A dozen state attorneys general asked the CFPB to withdraw or make substantial modifications to its proposed trial disclosure program.

Democrats on Capitol Hill and state attorneys general are continuing their campaign to get the CFPB to enforce the Military Lending Act.

CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney is resisting outside pressure to dump the controversial political appointee who now leads the agency’s fair lending activities. Eric Blankenstein has come under fire for racially tinged blogs he posted in 2004, where he stated that using the n-word may not necessarily be racist and a great majority of hate crimes were hoaxes. Senate Democrats are pushing Mulvaney to explain how Blankenstein was hired to be head of …

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced a bill to undo changes Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney has made to the agency during his tenure. The legislation has no chance in the current session of Congress, but it would likely get on the fast track if Democrats win control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections. “My bill, the Consumer First Act, would reverse the harmful changes the Trump administration ...