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In his second appearance before Congress this week, CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney continued to express support for NAFCU-backed reforms to the CFPB. Placing the CFPB under the congressional appropriations process and giving the bureau its own independent inspector general were among the recommendations he gave to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday.

Mulvaney also reiterated his support for a commission-led CFPB rather than its current leadership structure of a single director; NAFCU has long advocated for this change. The association is actively lobbying for bipartisan legislation in the House, the Financial Product Safety Commission Act (H.R. 5266), which would bring about such a change.

Mulvaney was testifying before the committee on the CFPB's semi-annual report to Congress. The report and Mulvaney's testimony urge Congress to increase oversight and accountability of the bureau, as he believes it currently has too much power. He provided similar testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, in which he outlined NAFCU-sought steps that the bureau is taking, including review of the remittance rule, new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements and potential expanded use of its exemption authority.  

During Thursday's hearing, while being questioned by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Mulvaney asked that Congress put the CFPB under the appropriations process, a step NAFCU has supported. He noted that many CFPB employees earn more than a senator, and that putting the bureau under the appropriations process would improve its transparency.

Mulvaney also made a request to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, for an independent inspector general; the bureau currently shares one with the Office of Financial Research.

Thursday's hearing also touched on the data collected by the CFPB. Mulvaney fielded questions from Crapo and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., among others, on the security of the data collected and stored by the bureau. Mulvaney mentioned that there have been a large number of lapses (not necessarily breaches) where sensitive information from the CFPB was released. He went on to note that the bureau will release a report soon regarding its data collection.

Following up on the topic of data security, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said companies, like Equifax, should be required to notify the public within a certain time frame following a data breach. Mulvaney agreed, adding that Senate-passed S. 2155, which includes various credit union regulatory relief measures, would require such notifications for credit reporting agencies.

Also during yesterday's hearing, Mulvaney discussed the CFPB's payday lending rulemaking, including the bureau's plan to review the rule; authority under the unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP); and various enforcement and supervisory actions taken.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt sent a letter ahead of Thursday's hearing offering ways to reduce the CFPB's regulatory burden on credit unions.

The full letter is available here; NAFCU's 2018 priorities for the CFPB are available here.