Hearing on the 2018 Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
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HEARING ON THE 2018 SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 11, 2018 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 115–83 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 31–417 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Chairman PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina, MAXINE WATERS, California, Ranking Vice Chairman Member PETER T. KING, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL POSEY, Florida MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin DAVID SCOTT, Georgia STEVE STIVERS, Ohio AL GREEN, Texas RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota ANN WAGNER, Missouri ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado ANDY BARR, Kentucky JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania BILL FOSTER, Illinois LUKE MESSER, Indiana DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio MIA LOVE, Utah DENNY HECK, Washington FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan CHARLIE CRIST, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia THOMAS MACARTHUR, New Jersey WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana SHANNON MCGAHN, Staff Director (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: April 11, 2018 ................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: April 11, 2018 ................................................................................................... 79 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018 Mulvaney, Hon. Mick, Acting Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec- tion ........................................................................................................................ 5 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Mulvaney, Hon. Mick ....................................................................................... 80 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Waters, Hon. Maxine: Article entitled, ‘‘Consumers Union calls for nomination of permanent CFPB director dedicated to protecting consumers from financial abuses’’ ........................................................................................................... 144 Written statement for the record from U.S. PIRG ........................................ 146 Wagner, Hon. Ann: Supplemental production of documents and briefing book from the Bu- reau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) ......................................... 153 Mulvaney, Hon. Mick: Written responses to questions for the record submitted by Representa- tives Waters, Budd, Huizenga, Hultgren, Pittenger, and Sinema ............ 253 (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER HEARING ON THE 2018 SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION Wednesday, April 11, 2018 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in room 2128 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jeb Hensarling [chair- man of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Hensarling, Royce, Pearce, Posey, Luetkemeyer, Huizenga, Duffy, Stivers, Hultgren, Pittenger, Wag- ner, Barr, Rothfus, Tipton, Williams, Poliquin, Love, Hill, Emmer, Zeldin, Trott, Loudermilk, Mooney, MacArthur, Davidson, Budd, Kustoff, Tenney, Waters, Maloney, Velazquez, Sherman, Meeks, Capuano, Clay, Lynch, Scott, Green, Cleaver, Ellison, Foster, Kil- dee, Delaney, Sinema, Beatty, Heck, Vargas, Gottheimer, Gonzalez, Crist, and Kihuen. Chairman HENSARLING. The committee will come to order. With- out objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. And all Members will have 5 legislation days within which to submit extraneous materials to the Chair for inclusion in the record. This hearing is for the purpose of receiving the semi-annual re- port of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Walking in through the hallway I have never seen such a crowd- ed hallway. Rarely have I seen so much excitement. So just in case you thought Mr. Zuckerberg was appearing in this hearing room, he will be across the hallway. Having said that, I now recognize myself for 3 minutes to give an opening statement. This morning we welcome home Mick Mulvaney, a highly re- spected former Member of this very committee, the director of the OMB, and the acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. He is here to deliver the Bureau’s latest semi-annual report to Congress. When Richard Cordray was director of CFPB I maintained it was perhaps the single most powerful and unaccountable agency in the history of the republic. Now that Mick Mulvaney is acting director, I still maintain that the CFPB is the most powerful and unaccount- able agency in the history of the republic. (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER 2 Democrats chose to insulate it from Congress, the President, courts, voters, and the democratic process. The CFPB is unaccount- able to the President, because the director can only be removed for cause. The CFPB is unaccountable to Congress because it deter- mines its own funding stream. The CFPB is unaccountable to the courts because it benefits from the Chevron doctrine. The CFPB is unaccountable to, well, the CFPB, because there is really not even a ‘‘them.’’ In this case, there just happens to be a ‘‘him.’’ No com- mission, no board, no effective oversight. So powerful is the CFPB director that he alone has been granted the unprecedented power to declare any mortgage, credit card, or bank account unfair or abusive, at which point Americans can’t have them if they need them, want them, and can afford them. The fact that the CFPB director has such power is itself unfair and abusive, and is an affront to the personal freedom of every Amer- ican citizen. While the Bureau retains all of these unbridled powers and re- mains unaccountable under Acting Director Mulvaney, there is one distinction: Director Cordray often acted unlawfully; Acting Direc- tor Mulvaney acts lawfully. What a welcome change. For example, in the PHH case, the facts show that Mr. Cordray unilaterally reversed decades of accepted law with regards to RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act), and did so with- out formal rulemaking. No comment, no due process, no notice. Then, to make matters worse, Mr. Cordray attempted to apply these new—this new rogue standard retroactively. Fortunately, these actions were held unlawful by the D.C. Court of Appeals. And that is just one example. We also know that, in many respects, consumers have been harmed by the CFPB. One example, according to researchers at the University of Maryland, the CFPB’s Qualified Mortgage (QM) rule harmed middle-income borrowers who not only—quote—didn’t ob- tain cheaper mortgages, but were cut out of the mortgage market altogether. But I must admit it is sheer irony and great comic relief to see the wailing and gnashing of teeth of many of my Democratic col- leagues who now denounce the unaccountable nature of the CFPB, but only because now a Republican is in control. I ask: Where have you been? The good news is we have an acting director before us today who is actually asking our assistance in reforming the CFPB. And if our Democrat colleagues wish for the Bureau to be accountable and re- sponsive, please work with us to ensure we do just that. Chairman HENSARLING. I now yield to the Ranking Member for her opening statement. Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. If I may, I would like to say at the outset that Mr. Mulvaney is not the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was ille- gally appointed by President Trump in a move that blatantly con- tradicts the Dodd-Frank statute, which is very clear that the dep- uty director of the agency shall serve as acting director in the case of absence or unavailability of the director. So I want to be very clear that Democrats’ participation in this hearing is not in any way an acknowledgment of Mr. Mulvaney’s VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:53 Nov 14, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-04-11 FC CFPB M nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER 3 legitimacy at the Consumer Bureau. Nevertheless, given the many impactful and, indeed, harmful decisions Mr. Mulvaney is making with regard to the Consumer Bureau, it is necessary for us to en- gage with him in an oversight capacity here today, while the courts decide who should actually be in charge. I am very concerned about Mr. Mulvaney’s actions, and have serious questions that he must address in his testimony.