With the CFPB weakened, could risky lending make a comeback?
CNN
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the banking watchdog created after the subprime mortgage meltdown and the 2008 global financial crisis, has been thrown into chaos as the Trump administration works to drastically remodel its operations.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the banking watchdog created after the subprime mortgage meltdown and the 2008 global financial crisis, has been thrown into chaos as the Trump administration works to drastically limit its operations. Last month, workers at the CFPB were told to stop working, effectively shutting down the agency, though that order has since been challenged by a federal judge. Although the CFPB, which is tasked with ensuring banks, lenders and other financial companies play fair with consumers, is severely weakened, Americans shouldn’t be too worried about a repeat of the subprime mortgage crisis that led to its creation, experts told CNN. Lenders and banks are currently more stringently regulated than they were in the years leading up to the crisis, and Americans who borrow money are more protected. Still, with the hobbling of an agency that often acts as a safety net for consumers, Americans may need to become their own consumer advocates when dealing with lenders of all types. “The CFPB’s mission is to protect individuals. After the financial crisis, we saw there were a lot of individuals who had been taken advantage of,” said John Griffin, a finance professor at The University of Texas at Austin who has argued that rampant fraud played a role in the financial crisis. “But I don’t think the CFPB would be able to stop another financial crisis.” The agency, which was a brainchild of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren when she was a Harvard Law professor, was created as part of Dodd-Frank, a 2010 federal law passed in an attempt to correct the financial vulnerabilities that contributed to the global financial crisis. The CFPB has since delivered $19.7 billion in consumer relief, with 195 million people eligible for that relief, according to the agency.
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