Tag Archives: Richard Cordray

President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address Wednesday to tout his accomplishments and propose several new housing ventures, including possible expansions to refinance programs, consumer financial protection, and new federal initiatives to combat abusive lending practices. The speech weighed in on risky lending practices in particular and went after Republicans for their opposition to his policies, including consumer financial protection. Experts remain on the sidelines about an expanded refinance program.

An awkward and slightly tense air greeted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray at his first congressional hearing Tuesday, where the new appointee cast his agency as one that would strive to reduce duplication and increase transparency. Although careful in their approach to the new director, Republican committee members frequently cited their concerns about federal overreach, the constitutionality of his recess appointment, and interests for transparency. The CFPB can now supervise nonbank financial entities.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission signed an agreement Monday to eliminate regulatory overlap by frequently sharing information about investigations and rulemaking proposals. A Memorandum of Understanding obliges the agencies to meet no less than once quarterly to share information, notify each other of action pending against entities, and coordinate training exercises for examiners and personnel. The agreement fulfills provisions under the Dodd-Frank Act that charge the agencies with signing a memorandum.

And then there were five. Republican presidential hopeful and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman threw his support Monday behind frontrunner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Not unlike his fellow candidates ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô or the incumbent himself ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô Huntsman left out any mention of housing finance reform and homeowners as issues for voters in the 2012 general election. Recent polls suggest that the political will exists to make housing finance policy a platform issue. MReport speaks with the experts to better understand housing finance policy and politics.

The Justice Department issued a legal opinion Thursday in which it backed President Barack Obama's decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week. The agency wrote that three-day pro forma sessions fail to constitute an actual session for the Senate. Obama riled the industry when he appointed Cordray and several others despite three-day sessions in which several lawmakers would meet without filing motions to consider nominees or legislation. Critics charge that the decision breaks with years of legal precedent under the agency.

Not two days after his recess appointment, newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray named de facto leader Raj Date his second-in-command. Date has led the CFPB since it went live in July, serving as day-to-day operations chief and testifying before Congress on its behalf. With degrees from the University of California and Harvard Law, he earned marks from the financial services industry with past roles at Capital One and Deutsche Bank. Cordray also made a string of other appointments at the bureau.

President Barack Obama stopped by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier Friday to welcome the staff and new director Richard Cordray. The chief executive sent shockwaves around the mortgage servicing and lending industries Wednesday by making the controversial decision to recess appoint Cordray as CFPB director. The move bypassed lawmakers in the Senate, namely 44 Republicans that vowed earlier this year to block any nominee for the bureau, no matter the party affiliation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made clear Thursday that it will exercise its full authority to supervise a host of nonbank financial entities, with mortgage originators, brokers, servicers, and others in plain view. The bureau, newly empowered by Richard Cordray├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós recess appointment Wednesday, offered up a video in which the new director addressed a virtual audience Thursday. The bureau released an 800-plus-page manual for nonbank examiners detailing their examination procedures, which focus on an entity├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós volume of business, services, and products.

Senate Republicans stood by their 44-member pledge Thursday by blocking a vote scheduled for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director-nominee Richard Cordray. Fifty-three votes fell below the 60-vote threshold needed to move the full Senate toward a vote to either confirm or reject the former Ohio attorney general, without whom the CFPB is unable to exert the array of powers granted it to supervise nonbank financial institutions. Forty-four Republicans pledged earlier to deny a director.

President Barack Obama is speaking out again against Republican senators who continue to oppose Richard Cordray as the administration's nominee for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray, a Democrat and former attorney general of Ohio, will be subject to a confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate on Thursday, and it seems likely that the move will be unsuccessful due to a filibuster-proof bloc by GOP lawmakers. The senators behind the refusal to confirm Cordray are targeting the restriction of the CFPB's reach.