WASHINGTON–Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the CFPB, told the House of Representatives he will have to leave his position at the Bureau by June 22 if President Trump is unable to formally nominate a replacement to become the permanent director. Mulvaney will be offering much of the same testimony today before the Senate as a court separately hears an appeal challenging his appointment as the interim director.
Mulvaney’s testimony is also coming at the same time a new analysis has found that since he took the position there have been no enforcement actions taken by the CFPB.
Mulvaney, who is also the director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, told the House Financial Services Committee that if a formal nomination is made he would be able to remain in the CFPB post until the Senate confirms the nominee. “Given how long it’s taken the Senate to take up confirmations, (I could be at the CFPB] probably well into the fall or end of this year,” Mulvaney commented.
Mulvaney appeared before the House, as he is doing today before the Senate Banking Committee, to provide the Bureau’s semiannual report to Congress.
A copy of Mulvaney’s full testimony can be found in CUToday.info’s The Gov here.
Other points raised:
But among the other comments Mulvaney offered to the Committee:
- He said the CFPB is reconsidering various elements of the 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and that it is rulemaking the agency plans to re-open. In particular, he pointed to the rule’s reporting thresholds and transactional coverage as areas of focus, including data points now included in the regulation that he said are “not mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act.” He added the CFPB is working with federal financial regulators to ensure that during supervisory examinations in 2018 data the collected under the HMDA rules is “diagnostic.”
- Mulvaney said that proposed overdraft rules, which have had many credit unions concerned, are not on the CFPB’s spring rulemaking agenda.
- But he said the agency does plan to release rules on payday, vehicle title and certain high-cost installment loans, and that will include a revisiting of the so-called payday loan rule the agency released in November of 2017.
- Other rules to be released this year include final rules on privacy notices
“We are not pre-judging the outcome of any rulemaking; instead, I share our recent efforts with you to demonstrate that under new leadership the Bureau is willing to revisit existing rules to find ways to ease undue burdens and protect consumer choice,” Mulvaney told the House. “This we will do efficiently, effectively, and transparently. We will structure ourselves and conduct Bureau operations in a way that reduces redundancy and makes the best use of resources.”
No Enforcement Actions Since New Leadership
Meanwhile, just prior to Mulvaney’s testimony, a new analysis found that in the first 135 days since President Trump appointed Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB, no enforcement actions have been taken by the agency against banks, credit card companies, debt collectors or any finance companies, according to a new report.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Associated Press said its review found that after averaging between two and four enforcement actions per month under former director Richard Cordray, there have been zero enforcement actions taken since Nov. 21, 2017, three days before Cordray resigned.
Prior to that date, in the roughly seven years it had been in existence, the CFPB said it had returned $3.97 billion in cash back to American consumers through enforcement actions and an additional $7.93 billion in other types of relief, such as lower loan balances or debt relief. The bureau estimates roughly one of every 10 Americans has received some sort of reimbursement or relief due to the bureau's enforcement work since it was created, according to the Associated Press.
Instead, under Mulvaney–a critic of the CFPB who testified before Congress twice this week and who has asked for MORE oversight of his agency–the Bureau has been sending out “Requests for Information” on a number of issues. As CUToday.info reported here, it recently sent out its 11th such ROI and said more will be coming.
In a statement to the Associated Press the CFPB said the slowdown is tied to a new administration taking over the bureau, adding that "it is our job to enforce the law, and we take it very seriously."
"Assessing the legal risks of all pending enforcement actions is a critical part of the transition process and standard procedure for new leadership at enforcement agencies such as the Bureau,” the CFPB told the AP. “That review continues alongside the agency's ongoing law enforcement work.”
Challenge to Leadership to Be Heard Today
Meanwhile, a hearing is set for today during which a three-judge panel will hear an appeal by the deputy director of the CFPB that she should be the acting director of the agency instead of the current sitting director.
The hearing will be heard in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by judges Judith W. Rogers, Thomas B. Griffith and Patricia Millett. At issue is a lawsuit filed by Leandra English, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who is seeking to have the court confirm her as acting director of the agency rather than Mulvaney, who was appointed by President Trump to the position.
As CUToday.info reported here, English was appointed to her current post in November 2017 by outgoing Director Richard Cordray just prior to his resignation. Both Cordray and English have cited the Dodd-Frank Act–which states the deputy director takes over in the absence of the director–in making the move.
Trump, however, countered that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 empowers the president to make the appointment, and he named Office of Management and Budget Director Mulvaney to also fill that role.
In January, federal Judge Timothy Kelly denied a request by English to name her the acting director.