Newsroom

July 31, 2012

Cordray testimony on CFPB report postponed

July 31, 2012 – The Senate Banking Committee has rescheduled today's planned hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's semi-annual report to Congress to Sept. 13.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray was originally set to testify before the committee at 10:00 a.m this morning. The committee said it had to postpone the hearing due to a conflict with a recently scheduled appropriations markup.

The CFPB has already posted its semi-annual report to Congress to its website. The report outlines the bureau's 2012 activities from Jan. 1 – June 30. During that time, the CFPB has exercised its multiple authorities as authorized under the Dodd-Frank Act, including regulation, supervision, enforcement, market research, financial education, and dealing directly with consumer complaints about financial products and services, the report says.

As of June 30, the agency had 889 staff, a number that includes about 230 who transferred from other federal agencies, according to the report. By that same date, it had spent $247 million in the 2012 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. On July 18, the CFPB announced its first public enforcement action, resulting in a $210 million settlement with McLean, Virginia-based Capital One.

NAFCU continues to be in frequent, ongoing discussions with CFPB officials and staff regarding bureau activities affecting credit unions, including the Know Before You Owe initiative on mortgage disclosures and the bureau's consumer complaint processes.

Cordray is still slated to speak Wednesday before the House Small Business Committee about the impact of the agency's regulations on small business. A key focus of the hearing will be the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires federal agencies to evaluate the impact of regulations on small business and consider less-burdensome alternatives. The hearing is also expected to focus on the CFPB's proposed rule on mortgage disclosures that affect credit unions and other mortgage lenders.