An astute journalist has picked up on a subtle change at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and wonders whether it is a harbinger of bigger changes to come.
It’s likely that not many people read the “About Us” section at the bottom of most press releases, but the CFPB has changed what it says about itself since Mick Mulvaney was appointed acting director more than a month ago, and it begs the question whether it was just re-wording some language or whether it is a signal of the agency’s new regulatory focus.
Here is what the CFPB used to say at the bottom of its press releases:
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives.”
Here is what it says now:
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives.”
No longer are rules being “fairly” enforced and the new verbiage mentions ” regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary or unduly burdensome regulations” as the first thing that it does. A long time ago, my mother taught me that when you read the ingredients on a food package, they list the most important or the ingredients that were used the most first. Does that mean the CFPB has shifted its focus to getting rid of rules rather than making sure that the companies it regulates are following them?
What this shift means for any new regulations, such as one that would govern the debt collection market, remains to be seen.
