Financial Watchdog Under Fire Amid Pandemic

Barron’s

November 2, 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many U.S. consumers to the brink of financial disaster. The government agency built to protect them may let them topple over the edge.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formed in response to the last financial crisis, is under fire from consumer advocates, lawmakers, researchers and former employees who say the Bureau is bending the rules for financial firms during the pandemic in ways that put consumers at greater risk and threaten to prolong and deepen Covid’s economic impact.

Measuring the Crisis: Housing Data during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Urban Institute

October 23, 2020

Timely data from both government and private sources are helping policymakers, businesses, and nonprofits understand the pandemic’s effects on homeowners, renters, and landlords. These data provide information on mortgage payments, forbearance use, rental payments, foreclosure risk, credit availability for new homeowners, and households’ housing insecurity.
 

CFPB missed opportunity to call out lending discrimination, critics say

American Banker

September 24, 2020

Amid a national focus on redlining and other forms of racial inequality, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has identified persistent gaps in home-loan denial rates by race and ethnicity, but is stopping short of pointing to a pattern of discrimination.
 

CFPB Penalties Decline as Enforcement Actions Go Small

Bloomberg Law

August 14, 2020

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s penalties against companies have significantly decreased in recent months as the agency has pivoted its focus to small-time violators.

The bureau’s enforcement actions, under Director Kathy Kraninger, have slowed down compared to former Director Richard Cordray’s tenure. Monetary penalties and consumer redress amounts have also declined under Kraninger, in part because the CFPB has targeted smaller companies that in many instances are unable to pay.

Dodd-Frank Anniversary Webinar

Americans for Financial Reform

July 21, 2020

his was the first webinar in AFR’s series of virtual events: A decade after Dodd-Frank: What next? Building a Just Financial System.

Note:  Diane Thompson appears as a panelist in the third panel, beginning at 1:46.

What Can We Learn from the CFPB’s Spring 2020 Unified Agenda Entries?

ACS/EPI

July 27, 2020

This week, Director Kraninger of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is slated to appear before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee in connection with the CFPB’s Semiannual Report. As we go into these hearings, it’s worth reviewing what we know about the CFPB’s current regulatory agenda.

CFPB, Show Your Work: The Case for Data-Driven Regulation in the Time of COVID-19

Morning Consult

June 10, 2020

In the middle of the military occupation of our capital, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opined that the relief consumers needed was the ability to get a new credit card fast — faster than the time it takes to send, receive and open an email to confirm your ability to get disclosures electronically. Because this wasn’t a rulemaking, the CFPB didn’t need to cite any data for its position, and it didn’t.

Forget COVID! Trump Says Regulations Are the Problem

Morning Consult

June 1, 2020

What’s the biggest challenge facing our country today? COVID-19? The millions of jobs that disappeared nearly overnight? Lost health insurance? A looming foreclosure crisis? Based on an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on May 19, it’s none of the above. He returns to an old and tired trope: that the problem is regulation.

Radical far-right CFPB task force threatens consumer protection

ACS/EPI

May 18, 2020

As unemployment approaches levels last seen during the Great Depression, and requests for mortgage forbearance increase every week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proceeded doggedly ahead in undermining consumer protection.

Mortgage Relief That Comes With a $4,000 Bill

The New York Times

May 15, 2020

Borrowers with privately held mortgages don’t have the same options as those with government-backed loans. Some are being told they can skip payments, if they make them up all at once.

Financial Watchdog’s Conflicted Task Force Earning Top Dollar

Bloomberg Law

May 11, 2020

A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau task force that has been criticized in the past for its pro-business leanings stands to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer advice on how to “harmonize and modernize” federal laws aimed at protecting the public.

Mortgage Servicers are Adding Forbearance Remarks on Credit Reports Even for some Borrowers Not in Forbearance 

The Capitol Forum

May 7, 2020

Some consumers whose mortgages are not in forbearance are surprised to learn that servicers are reporting to credit reporting agencies that the mortgage is in forbearance. In some cases, consumers might have called or contacted their servicers online to explore forbearance options but ultimately did not opt for forbearance. In other cases, consumers have not even made inquiries about forbearance. (Free registration required.)

What to do if you can’t afford to pay your mortgage right now

PBS News Hour

April 30, 2020

With more than 30 million Americans losing jobs or businesses and others forced to take pay cuts, making monthly rent and mortgage payments has become increasingly difficult. Viewers share their challenges, and John Yang talks to the National Consumer Law Center’s Diane Thompson, formerly of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, about what regulators and lenders are doing to try to help.

It’s Time to Ban Dangerous Debt Collection Threatening Public Health During COVID-19

Morning Consult

April 30, 2020

April 1, 2020, marked the day that the COVID-19 pandemic morphed from a public health crisis to a consumer protection crisis. After March bills strained already stretched household finances, April 1st marked the first missed mortgage, rent or credit card payment for millions of people, with no relief in sight.

Homeowners with federal loans won’t have to pay lump sum after pausing payments

South Florida Sun Sentinel

April 27, 2020

The federal agency that oversees 28 million government-backed home loans is reassuring its borrowers that they won’t be required to make a lump sum payment if they opt to hit pause on their mortgage payments as allowed by coronavirus relief measures enacted in March.

Lenders Demand Punishing Terms for Homeowners Amidst Pandemic

NPR

April 24, 2020

Millions of homeowners may skip making payments as part of a federal plan meant to ease financial stress during the pandemic. But many Americans say they’re running into problems with their lenders.

Consumers were slammed in the Great Recession.  The CFPB’s former director warns worse could be on the way

Vox

April 6, 2020

Richard Cordray is worried about Americans losing their homes and falling victim to loan sharks and scams amid the coronavirus crisis.

CFPB Urged to Take More Active Role in Coronavirus Response

American Banker

March 30, 2020

Pressure is building on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to take more aggressive steps to directly benefit consumers who are hurting financially from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Trump Attack on Government, Flying Largely Under the Radar

ACS/EPI

March 9, 2020

Health inspections of cruise ships, to reduce the spread of infections. A recall of flammable infant sleepwear. An order to clean up contaminated soil or water. This work of the federal government often lets us take for granted the safety of the food we eat, the clothes we put on our kids, and even our collective ability to fight new illnesses like the coronavirus.