For months, banking industry advocates have bemoaned the aggressive tactics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau but there’s been scant public evidence of enforcement efforts. That’s changing. Last week, the CFPB announced a $214 million settlement with Discover Financial Services for deceptive marketing.
But what’s really caught the attention of the consumer-finance bar is a petition by mortgage lender PHH Corp., which filed the first-ever challenge to a CFPB civil investigative demand, calling the agency’s request for information “overly broad and unduly burdensome.” On September 20, CFPB head Richard Cordray denied the petition and ordered the company to produce relevant documents within 21 days.
