Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has stripped the agency’s Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity of its enforcement power, according to a published report.
The department was charged with policing discrimination in lending, but will now focus on consumer education and advocacy, according to an email circulated within got CFPB yesterday by Mulvaney.
Responsibility for lending discrimination enforcement will now fall to the CFPB’s supervision, enforcement, and fair lending division. Mulvaney said he was not expecting the move to cause anyone to lose their job at the CFPB, but could not rule it out.
“These changes are intended to help make the Bureau more efficient, effective, and accountable, and I plan to seek both internal and external input as I continue to evaluate how we work,” Mulvaney wrote in his email.
Richard Cordray, the former director of the CFPB who is now running over governor of Ohio, criticized the decision.
Very upsetting to see the CFPB squatter leadership now interfering with the Fair Lending unit’s important work enforcing laws against discrimination in credit markets. We took on tough cases about redlining and other violations. Some don’t like it but it is the Law of the Land.
— Rich Cordray (@RichCordray) February 1, 2018
The move eliminates some redundancy within the CFPB, a Mulvaney advisor said and concentrates all enforcement activities within one office.
