Free Republic

Many Americans were surprised to recently see a coalition of the country’s most radical politicians — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Rep Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Blumentha l, D-Conn., to name a few — teaming up to introduce heavy-handed legislation against the peer-to-peer payment companies (like PayPal, Venmo, Zelle and CashApp) that have improved all our lives. Blumenthal even went so far as to dispatch a separate letter to the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) demanding an investigation into Zelle... The Biden administration brass, especially CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, have fought aggressively to convince the American...

U.S. District Judge John Bates has ruled in favor of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), allowing Musk’s budget-slashing team continued access to critical records from the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.The ruling deals a major blow to the entrenched bureaucracy and their progressive allies, who sought to block Musk’s efforts to streamline bloated agencies and cut unnecessary spending.A coalition of left-wing unions and nonprofits had desperately attempted to shield the agencies from oversight, but the judge’s late-night decision on Friday kept DOGE’s mission alive.U.S. District Judge John...

The news for Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her favorite agency just got worse. NBC News on Saturday night obtained an email sent to CFPB employees in which Vought announced a dozen directives that would go into effect immediately. Here are the details from NBC: [Employees were instructed to “cease all supervision and examination activity,” “cease all stakeholder engagement,” pause all pending investigations, not issue any public communications and pause “enforcement actions.” Vought also told employees not to “approve or issue any proposed or final rules or formal or informal guidance” and to “suspend the effective dates of all final...

Rohit Chopra, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was known for his aggressive enforcement and expansion of consumer protection laws.The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, was fired on Saturday, prematurely ending a five-year term that was scheduled to run through late 2026. “With so much power concentrated in the hands of a few, agencies like the C.F.P.B. have never been more critical,” Mr. Chopra wrote in a letter he posted on social media announcing his departure. Mr. Chopra expected to be fired immediately after President Trump took office, but he improbably hung on for nearly...

You love to see it.President Trump fired Rohit Chopra, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Saturday.Rohit Chopra received an email Saturday morning informing him that he had been terminated, CNN reported. On Saturday Chopra announced he was leaving the post. “This letter confirms that my term as CFPB Director has concluded. I know the CFPB is ready to work with you and the next confirmed Director, and we have a great deal of energy to ensure continued success,” Rohit Chopra said.It's been an honor serving as your @CFPB Director.Every day, Americans from across the country shared their...

As Jazz Shaw pointed out earlier, the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement yesterday directly contradicting something that has been said Monday by one of the CPSC’s board members. Monday’s statement, which was part of an interview, indicated that the board was looking at banning gas stoves. Yesterday’s statement said they definitely were not.In between those two statements there was all sorts of activity from those who supported the gas stove ban and from those who opposed it. But the key point here is that a member of the government body with regulatory control over gas...

A coalition of 19 state attorneys general from across the country launched a formal investigation into six major U.S. banks last week citing legal concerns about banks’ “ESG” investing and their involvement with a United Nations alliance fighting CO2 emissions.The banks “appear to be colluding with the U.N. to destroy American companies” and undermine the nation’s best interests, one of the AGs warned in a statement e-mailed to The Epoch Times.Another AG argued that these U.N.-inspired banking policies were resulting in jobs being sent to communist China as the regime there continues building coal-fired power plants to ensure low-cost, reliable...

Since my election, the United States economy has experienced a historic revitalization. Americans across our country have been the beneficiaries of and the driving force behind this extraordinary resurgence. Wages are growing at their fastest rate in a decade; the unemployment rate has reached its lowest level in half a century; and for the first time on record, there are more job openings than unemployed Americans. The vitality of our economy has led to high levels of consumer confidence. Even as we grow more prosperous, however, we must remain vigilant for bad actors seeking to harm and exploit honest and...

ItÂ’s an agency that you wouldnÂ’t think would be in the news much, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau became another front in the war against the Trump administration for the Left. Now, acting director Mick Mulvaney has just fired the entire 25-member advisory board, which was starting to criticize the front office. Last night, Mulvaney told its members that they were being replaced. YouÂ’re fired, as Trump would say. ItÂ’s a purge, some late spring-cleaning but one that could bring this administration into conflict with congressional Democrats (via WaPo): Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,...

Complete title: Consumer Protection Financial Bureau Director Richard Cordray Doubted Constitutionality of His Own Appointment, Documents Uncovered by Judicial Watch Show “There is a chance…that the appointment would be invalidated by a court.” Cordray Told Staff His Short Stint “should give to each one of us…a fierce urgency to accomplish the work we are doing together.” (Washington, DC) –Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that indicate the agency’s director, Richard Cordray, doubted the constitutionality of his own appointment. On January 4, 2012,...

In the midst of the administration’s efforts to drastically reduce the nation’s military personnel and hike pay for government employees comes this gem: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new director of which was unconstitutionally appointed by President Obama on Wednesday, is prepared to pay a salary of more than $100,000 for an employee to assist in planning bureau events. According to a job listing on USAJobs.com, the federal government’s official employment classifieds site, the CFPB is seeking an “invitations coordinator” to “support management of CFPB’s participation in external events by developing and maintaining databases and event calendar and providing...

Around one million Britons have taken out a payday loan to pay their mortgage or rent over the last 12 months, a survey reveals. It highlights the financial squeeze facing workers who are being pushed over the edge by soaring household bills, rising taxes and paltry pay rises, or pay freezes. The report, from the homeless charity Shelter, said a further six million people are being plunged into debt in other ways in order to pay these essential bills. They are using unauthorised overdrafts, personal loans or credit cards to pay their housing costs - rather than face being evicted...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama intends to nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to lead a new consumer financial protection bureau that was a central feature of a law that overhauled banking regulations. Obama plans to announce the nomination formally on Monday, the White House said in a statement Sunday. Republicans immediately threatened to block his Senate confirmation. In choosing Cordray, Obama bypassed Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of consumer groups, who has been assembling the agency as a special adviser to the White House and to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The agency will officially begin its oversight and...

In what could be a repeat of the easy-lending cycle that led to the housing crisis, the Justice Department has asked several banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, according to court documents reviewed by IBD. [snip] Another Reno protege, Perez has compared bankers to Klansmen. Only difference is, he said, bankers discriminate "with a smile" and "fine print." He said this kind of racism, though more subtle, is "every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood." Perez has put...

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Wis., plans to introduce legislation repealing the Dodd-Frank financial services law, calling it “misguided” and a “blatant abuse of power.” A key criticism by Rep. Bachmann is a provision in the law that allows the federal government to take over failing non-bank institutions, such as American International Group, according to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a prime architect of the legislation. In a statement, Rep. Frank said another key objection to the legislation by Rep. Bachmann and her conservative supporters is the creation of the independent Consumer Financial Protection...

Bank of America will begin testing a new slate of checking accounts in Massachusetts and two other states later this month in an effort to generate more revenue from customers.......... A second new account, called “Premium,’’ will cost $15 a month unless customers either maintain a $5,000 minimum balance, use a Bank of America credit card at least once a month, or add $2,000 to the account every month. A third new account, labeled “Enhanced,’’ will cost $25 per month unless holders maintain at least $20,000 in deposits and investments in certain accounts or link their accounts to a Bank...

A WSJ Investigation finds that iPhone and Android apps are breaching the privacy of smartphone usersFew devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, current location, often the owner's real name—even a unique ID number that can never be changed or turned off. These phones don't keep secrets. They are sharing this personal data widely and regularly, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. An examination of 101 popular smartphone "apps"—games and other software applications for iPhone and Android phones—showed that 56 transmitted the phone's unique device ID to other companies without users'...

The Financial Reform give the USA new bureaucracies of all kind: Advisory Committee, Office of the Investor Advocate, and of course the … the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection that will include the Consumer Advisory Board. It is not likely that the first-time home buyer will have the connections or the resources to influence who will sit on the Consumer Advisory Board. It is likely that the Wall Street will have the ability to lobby them. It is not likely that the senior taking care of the retirement funds will go all the way to the Office of the Investor...

The creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (“CFPA”) is a very bad idea and should be rejected. The proposal is not salvageable and cannot be improved in substance or in form. The proposal is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of the financial crisis. The Obama Administration’s Financial Regulatory Reform White Paper, and the intellectual underpinnings of the new CFPA as articulated by law professors Elizabeth Warren of Harvard and Oren Bar-Gill of New York University, set forth the blueprints for a powerful regulatory agency designed to react to a perceived failure of consumers to understand...

The top consumer advocate in the Oregon attorney general's office spent years on the other side of legal aisle, defending companies against consumer claims, before becoming charged with pursuing nefarious businesses and flim-flam artists in the Beaver State.