Consumer watchdog chief to step down
Richard Cordray’s early exit is a boon for Trump
Richard Cordray, the director of an agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from financial wrongdoing, said Wednesday that he will step down by the end of the month.
The first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in July 2011, announced his decision in an email sent to bureau staff. In the email, Cordray, who was appointed by President Obama, noted that the bureau has returned $12 billion to nearly 30 million consumers who were harmed by financial institutions.
The agency, he added, has handled more than 1.3 million complaints during his six-year tenure, which was stormy at times and subject to attacks from GOP lawmakers and to more recent criticism from the Treasury Department.
“Together we have made a real and lasting difference that has improved people’s lives notably,” Cordray said in his email to staff members. His tenure was slated to end in July 2018.
A bureau spokesperson declined further comment.
Still, Cordray stressed that “there is always more work that lies ahead.” In his email, he defended the importance of the agency’s role, which has come under fire from certain factions on Capitol Hill, including Republicans who have been vocally critical of the bureau’s pursuit of its pro-consumer agenda. Finan- cial firms have also taken aim at Cordray.
The consumer bureau, an independent government agency which was created from the 2010 post-crisis act known as Dodd-Frank, is charged with making sure banks, lenders and other financial firms treat Americans fairly. It helps Americans who have problems with mortgage lenders, debt collectors, student loan lenders or credit reports. Cordray’s early exit means President Trump will be able to reshape the agency by appointing a new leader that might be more friendly to business, analysts, economists and consumer groups say.
The fear is that the bureau, which is expected to look and run much differently under new leadership, will not back consumers with the same zeal that it did under Cordray.
“For President Trump, it will be yet another opportunity to put his stamp on a nominee who is friendlier to business and more inclined to deregulate,” says Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. “For consumers, the risk is that they will have fewer advocates working for them in the federal government.”
The agency has come under attack, including a broadside from Trump’s Treasury Department. The department argued in a June report to Trump that the bureau was harming consumers, not helping them.
Cordray, a former Ohio state attorney general and treasurer, is expected to run for Ohio governor as a Democrat to replace term-limited John Kasich. Cordray is a favorite among Ohio Democrats because of his experience running statewide campaigns.