In his first speech since taking over for Elizabeth Warren as the public face of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Raj Date warned that the agency will take a firm stance when it identifies practices that are harmful for consumers.
"Banks and other firms will find that we are fair-minded. But we're tough-minded, too," Date told a group of bankers and consumer advocates in Philadelphia on Thursday. "Make no mistake: When we find unjustified practices that cause substantial consumer harm, we will take the necessary action to put an end to them."
He emphasized, however, that enforcement is only one tool the bureau will use, along with supervision, rulemaking and research.
"In some ways our approach to enforcement is going to be better informed, I would argue more sensible and more highly effective, precisely because we have other tools at our disposal," said Date, the special adviser to the Treasury secretary who is running the bureau until a permanent director is installed. "And that way we're going to be able to make sure that when enforcement is the right tool to use, I assure you we will not hesitate to use it."
The CFPB organized the event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to observe the three-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the financial crisis.
He touted the agency's early work to tackle problems in the mortgage market, including efforts to streamline mortgage disclosure forms. He said the CFPB has also been working with other federal agencies to develop basic standards for mortgage servicing.
"We want to establish some common-sense safeguards to prevent bad practices from harming consumers," Date said. "That's why we're developing new rules to help borrowers get loans that make sense for them - loans that they can reasonably expect to repay."
