Kate Berry

Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.

Debt collection

In rebuke of CFPB, states look to get tough on debt collectors

In another sign of state officials trying to outdo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, governors in California and New York want greater authority to license and oversee the debt collection industry.

By Kate Berry

January 16
Dodd-Frank

Lawyer picked to defend CFPB before high court backs agency structure

The Supreme Court appointed Paul Clement to represent the agency after the bureau’s current director questioned its constitutionality.

By Kate Berry

January 15
Fintech regulations

Can California's mini-CFPB pick up slack left by federal agency?

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

By Kate Berry

January 10
CFPB

CFPB names longtime agency critic to chair consumer task force

Todd Zywicki, a law professor who has sharply criticized the CFPB as an unaccountable bureaucracy, has been named chair of an agency task force identifying potential conflicts and inconsistencies in consumer finance law.

By Kate Berry

January 9
State regulators

California governor to unveil plan for state CFPB

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to ask the legislature to revamp the current Department of Business Oversight and rename it the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, modeled after the federal CFPB.

By Kate Berry

January 9
CFPB

CFPB critics to Supreme Court: The agency must go

The case before the court deals mainly with a statutory clause limiting the president’s ability to fire a CFPB director. But briefs filed with the court say striking that provision does not fully solve the bureau’s constitutional problems.

By Kate Berry

January 3
Dodd-Frank

Supreme Court battle, presidential race loom over CFPB in 2020

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a busy policy agenda heading into the new year, as well as strong external forces that are beyond its control.

By Kate Berry

December 24
Fair Housing Act

Warren, Brown call on GAO to investigate CFPB's fair lending oversight

The two Democrats sent a letter "raising grave concerns about whether the bureau is fulfilling its statutory obligations."

By Kate Berry

December 18
Fair Housing Act

Where have all the CFPB fair-lending cases gone?

Despite assurances by Director Kathy Kraninger that the agency is cracking down on discrimination, it has not filed an enforcement action or sent a Department of Justice referral on a fair-lending violation in two years.

By Kate Berry

December 17
Enforcement actions

Early-bird special: CFPB to reward firms that quickly fix violations

The agency’s director previewed a policy for companies under enforcement action to have their orders terminated if they comply ahead of schedule.

By Kate Berry

December 2