Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is a lot less verbose than his predecessor, Richard Cordray.
Consider the introductory remarks that each made in the agency’s annual report about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Cordray’s remarks in last year’s report clocked in at more than 1,250 words. Mulvaney wrote only one-third as much in this year’s report, which was issued yesterday. The report also includes information from and summarizes the activities of the Federal Trade Commission, which shares enforcement of the FDCPA with the CFPB.
But what Mulvaney did say in his remarks validated what he has been saying for months now — that the agency will be following the letter of the law and nothing more.
We remain committed to the execution of our responsibilities under all consumer financial laws within our statutory authority, including the FDCPA, and to educating and empowering consumers to make better informed financial decisions. Going forward, we want to enforce the FDCPA as written while protecting the legal rights of all in a manner that is efficient, effective, and accountable.
The annual report summarizes the enforcement actions taken against companies accused of violating the FDCPA, the amicus briefs it filed in legal cases involving the statute, and its education and outreach initiatives.
There was also a section at the end about the pending debt collection rule, but the report mentioned nothing new about the it. In fact, while the report mentioned that the CFPB is “continuing to consider the feedback it received” from the SBREFA panel it convened in August, 2016, the section on rulemaking did not mention the changes to the proposed rule that former director Cordray revealed last June
