One thing we don’t have a great handle on is how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will play a role in the foreclosure fraud settlement, and more to the point the ongoing issues in the mortgage servicing industry. CFPB Director Richard Cordray goes some way to explaining their perspective in a Politico op-ed. The CFPB [...]

Yesterday I looked at the Administration’s new housing policies, particularly the mass refi plan they sent to Congress. Now, maybe that’s not something to focus on specifically, because John Boehner sealed the deal on that yesterday by saying that he has no interest in the government helping homeowners: “One more time? We’ve done this. We’ve [...]

In his statement on the Administration’s new housing policies, CFPB Director Richard Cordray makes a fairly stunning response, considering it’s posted at the White House blog: The principles articulated by the Obama administration today are good guideposts for much-needed reforms in the mortgage market. The problems that plague consumers are well-documented. Too many consumers were [...]

So the President delivered his remarks on this collection of housing policy announcements today, or should I say stimulus policy. As expected, it included this mass refi proposal, along with the announcement of the beginning of GSE sales of foreclosed properties to investors for them to covert into rentals. There was also this other piece [...]

Richard Cordray is appearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee at this hour, and I’m not available to watch the testimony. However, I do have Cordray’s written testimony, which he will presumably deliver in a truncated form. It’s pretty good, actually. I especially like how Cordray frames his mission as protecting honest businesses. Second, the [...]

Chatter increased over the weekend on a long-awaited foreclosure fraud deal between top banks and state and federal regulators, led by the Justice Department and HUD. Yves Smith provides additional details today, including a Constitutional issue over servicers providing modifications on investor-owned mortgages without their consent, a violation of the takings clause of the 5th [...]

The last time Patrick McHenry, the Billy Zabka of the House Republican caucus, held a hearing with a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it didn’t turn out too well. He called Elizabeth Warren a liar and generally tried to bully her, and received quite a backlash in the process. So we’ll get a [...]

The House Republican position on President Obama’s recess appointments is hard to even express without laughing. GOP Congressmembers are actually saying that they oppose the appointments because Congress is not in recess – and as soon as they finish their vacation and get back to Washington, they’ll have something to say about that. I’ve heard [...]

Louise Story writes about a new investigation in New York of big banks and their mortgage practices. This one is not being run by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, though he reserves the right to get involved. Instead, the New York Department of Financial Services is investigating the banks on the issue of forced-place insurance, one [...]

Richard Cordray spoke at the Brookings Institution today, on his first day as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He laid out the mission of the agency as he sees it, and how it will use its expanded authorities over non-bank financial institutions. Cordray started by bearing witness to financial predators who have destroyed [...]

I think we have found the unifying thread on the President’s recess appointments yesterday. He did not decide to make appointments on key financial regulatory positions, like OCC or FDIC or the Federal Reserve, and some worry that those nominees will now get blocked from confirmation as a result, though they are seen as uncontroversial. [...]