Deconstructing consumer protection

The consumer bureau – conceived during the financial crisis by Elizabeth Warren to help individuals fight back against abuse by companies -- has long been detested by many Republicans, who complained that it repeatedly overstepped its bounds with aggressive enforcement during the Obama years. As a result, the Trump administration has continually sought to slash its budget and scale back its ability to go after wrongdoers.

[...]

The bureau, for its part, has not brought a single enforcement case related to the crisis, and its enforcement actions fell by 80 percent from 2015 to 2018, according to an analysis by the Consumer Federation of America. Its staff has been reduced by more than 14 percent under President Donald Trump, and the agency is filled with political appointees to keep an eye on the career employees.

The bureau, which was formed in the ashes of the 2008 financial crisis, has instead repeatedly highlighted the “flexibility” it is giving the industries it regulates during the crisis, saying that benefits consumers.

In March, the agency announced that it would relax or postpone various reporting requirements for mortgage lenders, credit card companies and other financial institutions. Kraninger said the move would allow financial companies "to focus their resources on assisting consumers” rather than on complying with CFPB rules.

  Politico

They can't do both? Can they walk and chew gum?

A record number of consumer complaints have already been filed with the bureau — more than 42,000 in April alone, greater than in any other month since it opened in July 2011. The Justice Department recently brought its first fraud charges related to a small business lending program. More will follow.

Last month, the bureau issued guidance signaling that it would not enforce a requirement that credit reporting companies review consumer disputes within 30 days and would instead consider the companies' “good faith efforts to investigate disputes as quickly as possible.”

When Hell freezes over.

[Senator Warren] warned that “Congress will be watching — and I will use every tool available to me to hold the agency accountable to its mission.”