Richard Cordray Hits the Ground Running

After months and months of blocking, squelching and obstructing by Congress, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is up and running.  The agency’s new chief — Richard Cordray, appointed by President Obama via recess appointment — is all set to start cracking down on corporate loan sharks.

Under the wording of the Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has already been able to regulate banks, but unable to regulate other types of lenders until the agency had a director.  And now it does.  Richard Cordray told an audience:

“We are determined to deliver positive results for American consumers.  We must establish clear standards of conduct so that all financial providers play by the rules.  The consumer bureau will make clear that there are real consequences to breaking the law.”

Ouch!  No wonder Wall Street thugs have been fighting this agency tooth and nail.

Since the CFPB is no longer limited to regulating banks only, Cordray’s first target is the shadow banking industry.  This includes those ubiquitous payday lenders — there are over 70,000 of them — mortgage servicers, and the providers of those inflated booby-trapped student loans.  Go get ‘em!

And that’s not all.  Another thing the CFPB is able to do — now that it finally has a director — is go after the corporate-owned fox-guarding-the-henhouse mandatory arbitration system.  This is how the financial industry has been keeping its customers locked out of the legal system and forced into a corporate-rigged kangaroo court which is always stacked in favor of the company.  It must be nice to be able to investigate yourself and conclude that you’ve done nothing wrong.

Hopefully that sleazy tactic will come to an end soon.