Tag: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Commentary: The CFPB Attacks the Credit Card Rewards Programs Consumers Want

RealClearWire
Consumer using a credit card

Unsurprisingly, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent report on Credit Card Rewards is dismissive of programs that are popular with tens of millions of American households. However, its objections manifest the same sort of deceptive advertising and hiding of details that it complains are characteristic of credit card rewards, and the data in its report does not match the conclusions its director, Rohit Chopra, has made in his statement about the report as well as his testimony before Congress on the issue.

The CFPB’s press release announcing the Credit Cards Rewards: Issue Spotlight report denigrated rewards programs, alleging that “Consumers tell the CFPB that rewards are often devalued or denied even after program terms are met;” that “Consumers who carry revolving balances often pay far more in interest and fees than they get back on rewards;” and that “Credit card companies often use rewards programs as a ‘bait and switch’ by burying terms in vague language or fine print.”

Read the full story

Supreme Court Slaps Down Challenge That Could Have Gutted Financial Regulatory Agency

Admin
United States Supreme Court

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge on Thursday that could have paved the way for a consumer protection regulator to be dismantled.

The court ruled by 7-2 vote that the unconventional way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) receives funding is constitutional, dealing a blow to the business interests who brought the challenge.  Two trade associations for financial services firms had argued that it is illegal for the agency to be funded directly by the Federal Reserve instead of the congressional appropriations process.

Read the full story

Rep. Andy Ogles Introduces Bill to Stop Biden Administration Ban on Banks Considering Immigration Status of Customers

Tom Pappert
Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill on Wednesday to enshrine the ability for banks and financial institutions to consider the immigration status of individuals seeking credit or accounts. The legislation follows a joint press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which warned financial institutions that considering immigration status could “run afoul” of federal civil rights laws and regulations.

Ogles’ office said in a press release that his bill “would ensure financial institutions are able to consider immigration status when opening credit lines and accounts” in direct response to the CFPB and DOJ press release.

Read the full story

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty Signs on to Letter Urging Governmental Agency to Pause ‘Unfair’ Small Business Data Collection Rule

Hannah Poling

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) signed a letter urging the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to pause the effective date of the Dodd-Frank Section 1071 small business data collection rule.

The rule would compel banks to gather private information on small business owners who apply for loans.

Read the full story

DEI Disaster: Wells Fargo Employees Say Bank Targeted Hispanics with Predatory Lending Practices

ADN America

Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the United States is facing a lawsuit from its Hispanic employees that accuses the centuries old bank of engaging in predatory lending practices against customers of the same ethnic origin.

The lawsuit, filed June 30 in a Texas federal court, accuses Wells Fargo of pressuring Hispanic employees in San Antonio to redirect Latino customers away from home equity lines of credit to more expensive but profitable refinancing options without furnishing the usual disclosures, according to a complaint filed in court.

Read the full story

Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles Sends Letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Expressing Opposition to its Nonbank Registry

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) led a group of House Financial Services Committee Republicans in sending a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra expressing opposition to a proposal from the bureau to establish a nonbank registry.

It was announced last December that the CFPB proposed a rule to identify repeat financial law violators by creating a database of enforcement actions against certain nonbank-covered entities. According to the proposed rule, certain nonbank entities must register with the bureau and provide regular updates on their covered orders.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Community Bankers Worried About New Regulation’s Impact on Small Business

Bradley Vasoli

A new data-reporting rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has Pennsylvania’s community bankers worried about its implications for them and the businesses they serve. 

The regulation requires lenders making at least 100 small business loans annually to gather data regarding the entities’ applications, including credit prices, geographic figures, lending determinations and demographic information. The banks must then publish the data they collect. Entities meeting the definition of “small business” are those with gross revenues under $5 million in their last fiscal year. 

Read the full story

Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Admin

The Supreme Court announced Monday it would take up a case challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding mechanism on constitutional grounds.

On Oct. 19, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that funding the CFPB through the Federal Reserve violates the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which gives Congress the “power of the purse” in appropriating government funds. The CFPB filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 14, 2022, which the Supreme Court granted Monday morning.

Read the full story

Wells Fargo Ordered to Pay $3.7 Billion for ‘Illegal Activity,’ Including Mismanaging Accounts

Just the News

Federal regulators on Tuesday ordered Wells Fargo Bank to pay a $1.7 billion civil penalty and more than $2 billion in compensation to customers for what they say was “illegal activity affecting over 16 million consumer accounts.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wells Fargo “repeatedly misapplied loan payments, wrongfully foreclosed on homes and illegally repossessed vehicles, incorrectly assessed fees and interest, charged surprise overdraft fees,” among other things.

Read the full story

Ohio Lawmakers Aim for Strict Rules for ‘Clean Energy’ Lending Programs

Hannah Poling

Ohio lawmakers will consider this far adding consumer protections to “clean energy” lending programs in a response to concerns that they can burden vulnerable homeowners.

Last year, a statewide clean-energy lending program stalled prior to making any loans. Republican lawmakers aim to add protections for consumers in the instance the program resurfaces.

Read the full story

Appeals Court Finds Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Funding to Be Unconstitutional

Admin

On Wednesday, a federal appeals court determined that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s mechanism for funding is unconstitutional.

Politico reports that the three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately made the ruling based on the fact that the CFPB receives its funding through the Federal Reserve, rather than through legislation from Congress, thus violating the separation of powers in the Constitution dictating that Congress controls the government’s purse strings.

Read the full story

GOP Senators Claim Biden Appointee Has Turned Consumer Protection Bureau into a ‘Lawless and Unaccountable’ Agency

Admin

Republican senators claimed in a Monday letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra that he has returned the federal agency to its “lawless and unaccountable” Obama-era “roots.”

Led by Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, the 12 senators are taking aim at Chopra’s alleged “abuses of power” that are a “serious concern.” Chopra should “reverse course” and ensure the CFPB “stay[s] within the boundaries of law,” the senators wrote.

Read the full story

Biden Reportedly Taps Warren Ally Rohit Chopra to Lead Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Admin

President-elect Joe Biden will reportedly nominate Rohit Chopra, an ally of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Chopra is a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and if confirmed by the Senate would take over an agency that he helped create alongside Warren approximately a decade ago. Chopra’s selection was first reported by Politico, which cited four individuals with knowledge of the decision.

Read the full story

Commentary: Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Consumer Protection’ Scam

Admin

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) may no longer be running for president, but her agency lives on.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) doesn’t want to be controlled by the Trump Administration. The Supreme Court might end the agency’s streak of independence later this year. Ostensibly, the CFPB aims to protect ordinary Americans from untoward business practices. Instead, it only advances left-wing causes and identity politics.

Warren proposed the CFPB in 2007 when she was a Harvard law professor. President Barack Obama established it in 2010. It is supposed to protect Americans from malpractice in the financial industry, yet the CFPB’s main task during the Obama Administration was fighting “disparate impact.” Disparate impact is a legal concept that considers racially disproportionate outcomes as evidence of discriminatory policies, even if the policies had no discriminatory intent and were administered objectively.

Read the full story

Seven Steps Next Director Can Take to Make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Less Awful

Admin
Kathy Kraninger

by Norbert Michel   The Trump administration has nominated Kathy Kraninger to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Roll Call reports that her confirmation hearing was “as politically contentious as it’s gotten in the last year and a half” on the otherwise “senatorial Senate Banking Committee.” Ignore the political drama. The real story is the fact that the Bureau has been making some very positive changes under acting director Mick Mulvaney, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. To be clear, the Bureau should not exist. It was created based on the false premise that there was insufficient consumer protection law prior to the 2008 crisis, and that evil lenders preying on unsuspecting borrowers caused the mortgage meltdown. Mortgages are not, despite Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claims, anything like faulty toasters, and more than 20 federal consumer financial protection statutes existed prior to 2008. Furthermore, the crisis itself was caused by too much government, not too little. Congress should never have created a new federal agency, much less one with the bizarre (possibly unconstitutional) structure that it gave the CFPB. At best, Congress should have consolidated authority for the 20-plus federal consumer financial protection statutes that existed prior to 2008 at the Federal…

Read the full story

Trump Taps Kraninger for Consumer Protection Post

Admin
Kathy Kraninger

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Kathy Kraninger, associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to prevent financial abuses to consumers. In a statement Saturday, the White House said Kraninger would continue the efforts of the current CFPB chief, Mick Mulvaney, to scale back the agency’s regulatory ambitions while continuing efforts to keep financial fraud in check. Mulvaney, who is the president’s budget director, had filled the role in an actingcapacity, replacing Richard Cordray, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who had led the agency from 2012 until his retirement last year. The CFPB was formed in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis of 2007-08, authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Its duties are to protect consumers from fraud by banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, foreclosure relief servicesand other financial companies. Kraninger is currently associate director for general government programs with the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees government spending.           VOA News

Read the full story

Mick Mulvaney Looks for More Trump Appointees to Help Him ‘Refocus’ Consumer Bureau

Admin

Interim Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney said Thursday that he wants to bring more Trump political appointees on board at the agency as he pores over its books and considers halting dozens of pending cases targeting businesses. “We’re trying to get help over here,” Mr. Mulvaney told The Washington Times in an interview.

Read the full story

Commentary: Agency Accountablity Act Would Reclaim Constitutional Authority Congress Ceded to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Other Regulators

Tennessee Star Staff

Congress’ power of the purse is one of its bedrock responsibilities listed in Article 1 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed this power on several occasions, including in a 1976 case when the Court declared, “The established rule is that the expenditure of public funds is proper only when authorized by Congress, not that…

Read the full story