Newly Defanged, Top Consumer Protection Agency Drops Investigation of High-Cost Lender (Pro Publica)

[eppur_se_muova]

n the latest sign that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pulling back from aggressive enforcement, it dropped an investigation triggered by a 2013 ProPublica story about a lender that charges triple-digit interest rates.

by Paul Kiel Jan. 23, 6:12 p.m. EST

In 2013, ProPublica published an investigation of the subprime lender World Finance. World was charging annual interest rates that could exceed 200 percent, often trapping customers in cycles of debt by enticing them to renew the loans over and over. In states where laws barred such high rates, the installment lender loaded many loans with nearly useless insurance products that bloated the cost. The company boasted over 800,000 customers, part of an installment loan industry that claimed to loan to millions.

The following year, World disclosed that it was under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB, the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, and under the leadership of Richard Cordray, the agency took action against credit card lenders, mortgage servicers, payday lenders and others for unfair practices against consumers.

But after Cordray left last November, President Donald Trump installed Office of Management and Budget head Mick Mulvaney as acting director. To say that Mulvaney has been a critic of the CFPB is a vast understatement. In a 2014 interview given when he was still a Republican congressman, Mulvaney said of the CFPB, “some of us would like to get rid of it” and called it “a joke ... in a sick, sad kind of way.”

In the past month, Mulvaney’s influence has become increasingly apparent. The CFPB announced it will “reconsider” its landmark rule on payday loans, which was issued last year and aimed to prevent borrowers from getting stuck just paying the interest again and again on such loans because they could not afford to pay them off. The next day, the bureau announced it would be inviting comment on all aspects of the CFPB’s business “to suggest ways to improve outcomes for both consumers and covered entities.” It has also begun to drop enforcement actions.
***
more: https://www.propublica.org/article/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-drops-investigation-of-high-cost-lender




This is one tRump stooge who's proving all too effective in fulfilling his duties -- his duties to Uglican donors, not to the country, of course.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. And dropped investigation of Ewuifax's security breech.