House Financial Services Committee

Continuing to pull back the reins on the aggressive approach taken under former Director Richard Cordray, the agency's new five-year plan values consumer choice over heavy-handed enforcement.

A bill passed by the House would raise the threshold that allows smaller banks and credit unions to avoid expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements imposed by a 2015 rule.

Kirsten Sutton Mork, the House Financial Services Committee's staff director, will become chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The House Financial Services Committee, by a vote of 60-0, approved a bill amending key provisions of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.

The House Financial Services Committee passed 13 bills (and scrapped a vote on one) Wednesday, including one that would stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from being released by the government and another hailed as helping the underbanked in rural areas.

In a somewhat surprising decision, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced his retirement from Congress on Tuesday, but speculation immediately grew that he could fill a regulatory post.

Though FHFA Director Mel Watt stopped short of saying he would break with a Treasury agreement that forces all profits of the GSEs to go to the government, he emphasized that it couldn’t continue indefinitely.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray allegedly misled Congress about the agency's investigation into Wells Fargo's illegal sales practices and may have rushed a settlement with the bank, according to a report by the GOP.

A mishmash of lawmakers from different parties and committees are wading into the aftermath of Equifax’s megabreach, with some using it to advance their policy agendas while others are calling for possible criminal prosecution.

Staff for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said CFPB Director Richard Cordray is continuing to ignore subpoenas tied to the agency's work on the arbitration rule.

Democrats on the House and Senate banking committees are urging Republicans to hold hearings with Wells Fargo's top executives over its phony-accounts and force-placed insurance scandals.

House and Senate lawmakers formally filed resolutions on Thursday to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule, but there were early signs that enacting them may prove challenging.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling continued the drumbeat of Republican attacks on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray.

For Democrats, the scandal is a prominent symbol of big-bank misbehavior, while Republicans want to use it to show the shortcomings of the CFPB.

Ahead of the House vote Thursday on the Financial Choice Act, the two parties were assailing each other as proxies for Wall Street and painting themselves as defenders of community banking and the consumer.

The Congressional Budget Office said only community banks would choose to hold higher capital in return for fewer rules while lowering its estimate of cost savings of eliminating new FDIC resolution powers.

The House Financial Services Committee approved the Financial Choice Act by 34 to 26. While it has enough support to clear the GOP-controlled House, it is unlikely to gain traction in the Senate.

The House Financial Services Committee began debate Tuesday on a sweeping regulatory reform bill, yet while it is expected to pass on party lines, few expect it to stand a chance in the Senate.