Transcripts For CSPAN Consumer Watchdog Director Comes Under

That accounts by wells fargo employees. This is just over three and half hours. The committee will come to order. We have a quorum here. I will begin with five minutes of opening statements. Mr. Quarter it, i know you are here at our committees invitation for statutory appearance, but i am otherwise surprised to see you here. Or have been many press reports saying that you would otherwise have returned to ohio to pursue a gubernatorial bid. Perhaps the rumors of your political aspirations are greatly exaggerated. On the other hand, im also surprised you are here, because as you are well aware the president can dismiss you at will. , you can berank removed for a cause. Either way, i believe the president is clearly justified in dismissing you. I call upon the president to do just that into doing immediately. There is no greater form of Consumer Protection than fostering competitive, innovative markets. And then also vigorously policing them for fraud and deception. A policing our markets under mr. Corduroys leadership, the success record is anything but clear. What is clear is that the agency has shown a disregard for protecting our markets it our markets. It has made credit more expensive many instances including those of moderate, middle income americans. The agency has also acted unlawfully and abused its powers. It is now finalizing the rule that would authorize access to prepaid card products for consumers who do not use traditional banking services. Credit card rates have risen significantly with many would be borrowers getting priced out of the market entirely. Many credit worthy borrowers could pay 600 more for their. Uto loan according to researchers at the university of maryland, as a result of dodd frank, middle only achievet cheaper mortgages, but they were cut out of the Mortgage Market altogether. For all the harm inflicted upon consumers, richard quartering richard quartering ordrey should be removed from office. Show that he removed reversed the law and did so. Ot with formal rulemaking hemake matters worse, attempted to apply this new rope standard retroactively. The d. C. Circuit court ruled against and in both instances. On marchreversed, 31st, he attempted to take control over direct dealer auto lending compensation. In doing so, the agencies ought to deregulate companies over which it has no statutory authorities and who are expressly exempted under the dodd frank law. To process tod the companies under the administrative procedures act. Denied market members due process, and as such he should be dismissed by our president. Go,only must mr. Cordray but this Current Agency must go as well. The market people need to be protected from fraud and deception. They do not need washington choicerampling on their and taking products for them. Today, the agency asked as legislature, prosecutor, judge, and jerry all rolled into one. Rolled into one. They represent a dagger aimed at the heart of our Central Government values. Clearly, you can be a democrat and believe in the agency, but you cannot be a democrat with a lowercase d and believe in this institution. Represents a key battle of nothing less than to protect our constitution. Power,bination of all legislative, executive, judiciary, they justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. This journey must and, and the peoples Constitutional Rights returned to them. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I thank you for director co rdray for joining us once again stuck about how the Consumer Protection bureau continues to fight for americans who have been harmed by you legal, predatory schemes. I am delighted and so pleased you are here. I am so honored that you have done the work you have done for all consumers in america. I would also like to thank you for your sustained, long, strong leadership despite unyielding republican efforts to repeal your work and their desire to remove you from your position prior to the expiration of your term. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has successfully recovered around 12 billion for 29 Million Consumers who have been victim of predatory financial practices. In addition, the consumer arough has handled over million Consumer Complaints and worked diligently to promote clear disclosures and reduction practicesces bad committed by Financial Institutions. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is doing the exact job they are supposed to do, and they are doing it well. Congress recognized that americans needed a new watchdog that would swiftly and effectively crackdown on unscrupulous packages and products. The dodd frank wall street reform and the Consumer Protection act that we deliberated extensively, we created a Consumer Agency with a single director that operates independently in order to effectively serve consumers and regulate financial markets. We could not have had a better cordrayhan to director despite what you hear from republicans about the leadership structure. It is not unique. There are other federal, regulatory agencies with similar structures. These facts have not stopped republicans and some in the industry from making legal challenges to its structure. That is why, last week, i let 40 other current and former members of congress to file a brief with the d. C. Circuit court of appeals in support of the Protection Bureaus independent structure and clear constitutionality. Republicans have been clamoring to weaken, impede, and ultimately destroyed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its creation. First, they did everything they could to stop a director from being appointed in the first place. Since then, they have pushed fundures to defriend de and dismantle the bureau. There are in every state who have been ripped off by Financial Institutions. Why are republicans not fighting for them and their Financial Security . I reject these attacks against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and i will continue to stand up for the hardworking American Consumers that the agency protects every day. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a valuable ally whose work must continue. Director cordray, i look forward to hearing your testimony. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done in the way that you have conducted yourself. The way you have allowed everyone to come in and share their concerns with you. The way you have traveled all over this country to meet with consumer groups. Legally your term does not end until july, but i would hope that this resident even know i doubt it, would have the wisdom to ask you to stay on. Yield is there any time left . Somebody else youll him sometime along the way. I guilty of. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. Cordray it is great to see you again. I have known you for a long time. The mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to protect American Consumers. When wells fargo opened thousands of fraudulent accounts, it was the Consumer Protection bureau that sounded the alarm. Mr. Chairman . Committee will come to order. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. I wonder if i may have extra time . The gentleman will have an additional 20 seconds. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The work that you have done is noted whether it is wells fargo or money tree or bridge point for education where the consumer hasau that you lead returned millions of dollars to consumers. Notation is not with some ridicule. I suppose it may be that when it comes to which side we stand on, institutions as having credible influence over this town or the people back home. The glass choose which side they are on. I am glad that in the role you have taken you have been on the side of the consumer. I thank you for the work you are doing. The time for the gentlelady and the gentleman have expired. We welcome the honorable director cordray who has previously testified for this committee. I believe you know needs he does not need further introduction. You are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you winky members of the committee. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to stand up for consumers and make markets work more fairly. Over the past five years, we have returned about 12 billion to consumers all over the country in every state and every district. We have imposed about 6 million worth of Civil Penalties. We put an end to the mortgage processes that led to the financial crisis and harmed so many. We are arming consumers with better resources so they can make decisions for themselves and the families. Work to give consumers a voice that matters so they can address their own concerns and report on broader patterns of abuse or concerns. Today, we have fielded more and more complaints. More more people are finding this to be helpful. Markets that work for consumers are also good for responsible businesses and the economy as a whole. Consumer lending has been ramping up in mortgages, credit cards, and auto loans. Delinquencies remain at historically. Last year, auto loans remained at historic levels. Banks are showing solid profits, and Community Banks and Credit Unions are going growing their share of the Mortgage Market. Still, more work to do to clean up the Consumer Financial marketplace. These markets are huge and touch all of us in one way or another. Years of uneven title oversight allowed a lot of bad behavior to go unchecked. As the independent consumer watchdog, we are solely focused on the job Congress Gave us of assuring these markets are fair, transparent and competitive, and consumers have access to sound Financial Products and services. I want to highlight some areas were people remain vulnerable without the Consumer Bureau to stand up for them. Create that markets in for consumers. When people are forced to deal with companies they did not choose and cannot change, they lose much of their power because they lack of freedom simply to take their business elsewhere. A prime example is Credit Reporting. If your Credit Report contains inaccurate information, you can suffer severe and lasting harm. Many people do not know what is in their Credit Report. It they do find something wrong, get his way to hard to get anybody to Pay Attention and make it right. The Consumer Bureau is the first agency to supervise his industry and the companies, and we are making steady progress to clean up these problems. We recently took Enforcement Actions against all three major Credit Bureaus for deceiving consumers. And marketing Credit Scores we are still flooding ed with complaints so more work needs to be done. Another dead in market is Debt Collection. Consumers often find it debt is sold off or outsourced to a new company. They often do not know what to do in these collectors treat them badly. We here for stories about constant harassing phone calls, relatives or employers tracked down a wrongly contacted, or even false threats of arrest of the debt is not paid. These tactics are indefensible and against the law. People deserve to be treated with dignity, whether or not they only debt. We have taken action on several fronts to address widespread abuses in Debt Collection, but my Credit Reporting gets a big problem that will take time to is properly another area performance incentives that are consumers this a prominent example is wells fargos practices that led to millions of consumers having accounts opened in their name without their knowledge. And 2013, we get was a borough we got a whistleblower tip about problems. It was causing investigation was. Conducted with federal and local partners that documented the widespread practice of secretly opening up unauthorized accounts. Completing an action with a record fine, we blew up in a scandal. We are keeping a close eye on these practices and insisting all banks and Financial Companies must carefully monitor their incentive programs to avoid such problems. Demonstrate why the Consumer Bureau is so important to protect consumers. Incentive programs cause Improper Conduct a not limited to wells fargo. They show up in overdraft in credit card addon products, where we are rooting out that practices. We will remain vigilant and crackdown of these abuses wherever we find them. Beginningtalk about or destroying the Consumer Bureau are missing the importance of the work we are doing to send a for individuals and emilys all over the country. Nobody should want to return to a system that failed us and produce a financial crisis that damaged so many lives. I look forward to answering your questions about what we have accomplished over the past year. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Cordray. I yield myself Prime Minister questions. First, i want to deal with the important subject of congressional oversight, as i trust you are well aware. Yesterday i reissued a subpoena for this congress for matters that were pending from subpoenas in the last congress that were never complied with. Some of these matters have been days, i wish82 to remind you and all personnel pb, it is unlawful to obstruct of the power of inquiry of inquiry which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either house or any committee of either house. I suspect you will find the Justice Department will no longer turn a blind eye to obstruction. As you are probably aware there is a december 21 article that appeared in the National Review dealing with cfe be an congressional oversight. Thee article it stated unwritten policy of its supervising attorneys and if one former Democratic Senate staffer was never give them what they asked for. A careern to say professional and the unit who had resisted pressure to engage in witness coaching and other unethical practices was reprimanded for insubordination and reassigned. The Inspector General investigated. They concluded the reprimand was unwarranted and the supervisors had engaged in obstruction. Mr. Cordray, does anything in this article true . Mr. Cordray i have seen that article. It is filled with hearsay an opinion. Is any of it true . Or do you deny all the assertions in the article . Mr. Cordray i dont know what all of the assertions in the article are. The ones i just quoted. Mr. Cordray i would be happy to have my staff mr. Cordray, as the fed Inspector General ever communicated with you involving a supervisor that were to that works in oversight requests . Mr. Cordray i do not im not sure to what you are referring to. You dont know the answer . Are you aware of any Inspector General inquiry of any aspect of the cfpbs handling of congressional inquiries . Mr. Cordray i dont you are unaware of any Inspector General inquiry into your handling of congressional inquiries. Is that correct . Mr. Cordray i dont always know all the inquiries the Inspector General is conducting. Im not supposed to know all the inquiries the Inspector General is conducting. The article states the Inspector General issued you a report. The findings of its investigation. Have you ever received a report from the Inspector General detailing any aspect of cfpbs handling of inquiries . Mr. Cordray i have gotten dozens of reports from the Inspector General. I try to play pay close attention. If you have ever received a report . Terribly important matter going to the foundation of our constitution and oversight. And you are unaware of any Inspector General report . Mr. Cordray you started from an article based on opinion and hearsay. There were claims made we dont provide documents. Necessary,case, if we will subpoena such. I cant believe you would be unaware of this. If you want to show me the report and refresh my memory. Is it a published report . Rep. Hensarling you say you are unaware of the report. Mr. Cordray im not sure what you are referring to. Rep. Hensarling in the time i ive remaining, mr. Director, think it has section 1071 of dodd frank requires Financial Ins