WASHINGTON–The one-year anniversary of Kathleen Kraninger as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been met with everything from a long press release from the agency itself highlighting her leadership, to sharp criticism from a consumer group, to a meeting with credit union league executives to Supreme Court decisions that, ironically, should the CFPB get its way, would water down Kraninger’s authority.
In a 3,200-word press release, Kraninger issued a statemen that “In this last year we’ve greatly enhanced consumer protection by harnessing the resources provided by Congress to be more effective and comprehensively utilized. I commend the Bureau employees who work tirelessly to achieve our mission. We will continue to use all of our tools to not only go after bad actors that break the law, but also to prevent harm in the first place by building a culture of compliance throughout the financial system. This culture of compliance can only be built by having smart and clear rules of the road as well as a robust supervisory examination process.”
The Bureau said during her first year Kraninger met with more than 800 consumers, consumer groups, state and local government officials, military personnel, financial institutions, academics, non-profits, and former and current Bureau advisors, and traveled to 17 states.
More Than 100 Bullet Points
The release also included more than 100 bullet points highlighting what the CFPB said have been accomplished under Kraninger’s leadership, organized under the headings “Providing Clear Rules of the Road Through Rulemaking,” “Creating a Culture of Compliance,” “Enforcing the Law Against Bad Actors,” “Educating and Empowering Consumers to Make Better Informed Financial Decisions,” “Enhanced Inter-Agency Coordination,” and “Promoting a More Inclusive, Effective and Efficient Organization.”
An F Grade
But one consumer group offered far less praise on Kraninger’s one-year anniversary, with Allied Progress issuing a report titled “A Year of Failing Consumers” and claiming, “Kraninger has proven as useful to Greedy Industries as Mulvaney.”
The latter reference is to Mick Mulvaney, who was acting director of the CFPB before taking over as President Trump’s chief of staff.
“Her actions have rarely deviated from the path set by her predecessor, right-wing ideologue Mick Mulvaney, who considered the Bureau’s mission to protect consumers a joke,” said Allied Progress in a statement.
The group has given Kraninger a failing report card that can be found here, and argued the director has “systematically prioritized industry demands above stopping consumer harm.”
Allied Progress said Kraninger has helped kill consumer safeguards against payday loan traps and indicated she may further role back such protections.
“Kraninger made her guiding principles clear when recently she told a roomful of bankers, “You are really helping drive the agenda,” the organization said.
“Like Mulvaney, Kraninger’s preferred method of dealing with illegal behavior from big banks, predatory lenders, and other financial scammers is to pretend it doesn’t exist,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Allied Progress.
Meets With CU League Execs
Meanwhile, Kraninger was recently in Marco Island, Fla., where she addressed the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL) winter conference.
According to CUNA, Kraninger, who also serves as chair of the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council, closed out the conference with an update on the CFPB’s priorities and the “Bureau’s continued focus on preventing harm to consumers.”