CFPB Wants Public Feedback On How It’s Doing

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is putting out a call for public feedback on the agency’s performance.

A press release announced that the Bureau is “seeking information to help assess the overall efficiency and effectiveness of its processes related to the enforcement of federal consumer financial law.”

The Request for Information (RFI) – part of a review of all agency procedures that acting director Mick Mulvaney ordered last month – is intended to help the CFPB to determine “ways to improve outcomes for both consumers and covered entities.”

According to American Banker, one of the key initiatives about which the CFPB is seeking feedback is how to organize enforcement with other federal or state agencies when there is overlapping jurisdiction. This is something that Mulvaney recently discussed with Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting during a 45-minute meeting this week. Afterwards, Otting heaped praise on Mulvaney for his work since taking over the agency in late November.

The job of regulators “is to help our system fulfill its important role in society by ensuring it operates in a safe and sound manner and treats customers fairly,” Otting said in a press release. “But, unnecessary regulatory burden is a waste that places a drag on our entire economy without making the system safer or fairer.”

With that in mind, the CFPB is also requesting opinions on whether companies potentially under investigation have “the right to make an in-person presentation to Bureau personnel prior to the Bureau determining whether it should initiate legal proceedings.”

And there are also questions over whether the CFPB should use a “matrix” to determine civil money penalties, which is something bank regulatory agencies use to ensure consistency of issued fines.

Before taking over the agency, Mulvaney had long been a critic of the CFPB, calling it a “sad, sick joke.”

“Americans deserve a CFPB that seeks to protect them, while ensuring free and fair markets for all consumers,” Mulvaney said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.