Payday lending

Questions about the CFPB’s structure, high-profile enforcement actions and the acting director’s rift with Elizabeth Warren could dominate two days of hearings on Capitol Hill.

The agency’s acting director uses a reply letter to the senator not to answer her questions but to underscore that Congress lacks the ability to compel answers to such questions.

The latest salvo by the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — proposing in the agency's semiannual report that all CFPB rules be subject to congressional approval — left many observers stumped if not outraged.

Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney proposed dramatic curbs to his agency's power in a report Monday, including a recommendation that all CFPB rules must be approved by Congress.

The eventual pick will likely encounter heavy scrutiny from senators and, if confirmed, would take the helm of an agency still defined by turmoil nearly seven years after its creation.

The interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the agency may allow prudential regulators to take the lead on more supervisory matters to cut down on duplication.

“Why we think we know better or how to protect consumers in your state surprises me,” acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney told a group of state attorneys general. “I don’t think we’ll being do much of that anymore.”

The war of words between acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the agency's architect, is escalating.

The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday had his first taste of the withering congressional criticism endured by his predecessor on trips to Capitol Hill.

The agency has suffered a series of setbacks over the past two months, from a rollback of its arbitration rule to a legal battle over its leadership. Here's what happened — and where the agency might lose next.

Richard Cordray took a big gamble in his final act as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, attempting to appoint his own interim successor. He lost Tuesday, but he was far from the only one.

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said he would "fix" the CFPB by ensuring it protected consumers without cutting off access to financial services. His comments came as a federal judge declined to rule yet on the legality of Mulvaney's appointment.

President Trump has tapped Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as interim head of the CFPB. He has taken tough stances on the CFPB, its payday lending rule, housing finance reform and other issues pending before the agency.

A new Republican director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to take immediate action to change certain rules, including the "qualified mortgage" and payday rules, while curbing pending enforcement actions that are considered too harsh on financial firms.

The Senate's repeal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule is arguably the industry's biggest policy victory since passage of Dodd-Frank. But is it the sign of a trend?

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said his possible political ambitions did not affect the small-dollar rule, while declining to spell out if he was running for office.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, wrote a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray calling on him to clarify whether he is running for political office.

Republicans are already accusing CFPB Director Richard Cordray of misusing his job as a fundraising platform while many agency allies want him to stay.

The Trump administration says it has put a stop to Operation Choke Point, a controversial initiative aimed at discouraging financial institutions from servicing high-risk businesses.

Payday lenders and arbitration supporters are claiming the CFPB has met more often with consumer groups than industry, laying the groundwork for likely lawsuits on key rules.