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 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

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on October 17, 2019 entitled “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress” at which the witness will be Director Kraninger.

The CFPB’s most recent semi-annual report covers the period October 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019.  The hearing will be webcast live.… Continue Reading

The long-running saga that is the litigation over whether the CFPB’s single-director-removable-only-for-cause structure is constitutional took a new twist on Tuesday with the CFPB’s announcement that it has determined that its structure is unconstitutional.

On October 22, 2019, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET), Ballard Spahr will hold a webinar, “The CFPB’s Constitutionality Goes to the Supreme Court: What It Means.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB has lifted a nearly two-year hiring freeze and accelerated its recruitment efforts. Mick Mulvaney imposed the freeze when he replaced Richard Cordray, an appointee of President Barack Obama, and became interim Director of the CFPB in November 2017. In an August 15 email to staff, CFPB Director, Kathy Kraninger explained; “Broadly speaking, the completion of the staffing planning process means: The ‘hiring freeze’ is lifted.”… 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

Several civil rights groups have sent a letter to Director Kraninger questioning whether the CFPB is engaging in the oversight of the student loan market that they believe is necessary to “root out potentially discriminatory practices.”  In particular, the groups suggest that access to income-driven repayment programs is being provided “in an unequal way, with a disproportionate impact by race or sex.”… 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