On Wednesday, February 5, the House Financial Services Committee will hold the first part of a two-part hearing on “rent-a-bank” structures. The hearing is titled “Rent-A-Bank Schemes and New Debt Traps: Assessing Efforts to Evade State Consumer Protections and Interest Rate Caps.”  (Part Two is scheduled for February 26.)

The Committee Memorandum for Part One discusses the relevant case law, including Marquette and Madden, and the OCC’s and FDIC’s proposals to undo Madden. … Continue Reading

On January 31, the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law will hold a program, “Consumer Protection in the Trump Administration,” at which CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger will deliver remarks.  The program, which is part of the University’s 2020 Law and Biomedicine Colloquium, is free and open to the public.… Continue Reading

CFPB Director Kraninger has rejected the argument made by Equitable Acceptance Corp (EAC) that because the Bureau’s structure is unconstitutional, the civil investigative demand it received from the Bureau should be set aside or at least modified to stay the CID’s response deadlines pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Seila Law.… Continue Reading

CFPB Director Kraninger was the sole witness at a House Financial Services Committee hearing yesterday on the Bureau’s Spring 2019 semi-annual report and at a Senate Banking Committee hearing today on the report.

At the House hearing, Director Kraninger came under harsh criticism from Democratic members, with one member reportedly calling Ms.… Continue Reading

CFPB recently issued its Spring 2019 Semi-Annual Report to Congress covering the period October 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019.

The report represents the CFPB’s second semi-annual report under Director Kraninger’s leadership.  Like the first semi-annual report issued under her leadership, and in contrast to those issued under Mr. Cordray’s leadership, the new report does not contain any aggregate numbers for how much consumers obtained in consumer relief and how much was assessed in civil money penalties in supervisory and enforcement actions during the period covered by the report.… Continue Reading

Two Democratic Senators have sent a letter to CFPB Director Kraninger and Education Secretary DeVos asking the regulators to explain what roadblocks are preventing the CFPB and ED from entering into a new memorandum of understanding to replace the MOU between the agencies that the ED terminated in 2017.

In their letter, the Senators indicated that the agencies have disagreed about the reason for the MOU’s termination and have provided conflicting information to Congress regarding the CFPB’s efforts to reestablish the MOU. … Continue Reading

To mark the first six months of Kathy Kraninger’s tenure as CFPB Director, the CFPB issued a press release providing highlights of the Bureau’s activities during that period.

The activities highlighted are those in the areas of consumer financial education, supervision, enforcement, and rulemaking.  The takeaway from the press release is that the Bureau continues to be very active under Director Kraninger’s leadership. … Continue Reading

A new decision and order from Director Kraninger that, with minor changes, strictly enforces another CFPB civil investigative demand is a further indication that the CFPB’s enforcement activities remain robust under her leadership.  The new order and decision follows five decisions and orders issued by Director Kraninger on April 25 in which she also, with minor changes, strictly enforced five CIDs.… Continue Reading

Consumer advocates have heavily criticized Director Kraninger and former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney for taking a much less aggressive attitude towards enforcement than former Director Cordray.  While there are fewer lawsuits and consent orders under the Kraninger/Mulvaney leadership than under the Cordray leadership, the CFPB’s enforcement activities are still quite robust as exemplified by the five decisions and orders issued by Director Kraninger on April 25 in which she, with minor changes, strictly enforced five separate CFPB civil investigative demands (CIDs). … Continue Reading

In a letter sent to Senator Elizabeth Warren regarding the CFPB’s supervision of student loan servicers, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger discussed the Bureau’s relationship with the Department of Education.

In the letter, Director Kraninger responded to a question from Senator Warren regarding the guidance issued by the ED in December 2017 to student loan servicers about the application of the Privacy Act of 1974 to certain student loan records.  … Continue Reading