University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Christopher L. Peterson appeared in several news outlets to discuss controversy surrounding who is in charge of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau following the director Richard Cordray’s recent resignation.
Peterson was interviewed by American Banker magazine and appeared on MSNBC.
Peterson’s commentary comes in the wake of recently released research on the agency’s outcomes. Peterson’s new research outlines why passage of the Financial Choice Act of 2017 could have dangerous consequences for consumers.
Titled “Choosing Corporations Over Consumers: The Financial Choice Act of 2017 and the Consumer Financial Protection ,” the research examines how the proposed legislation would affect the enforcement ability of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency, known by the acronym CFPB, was created by Congress six years ago to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive lending practices and as a tool to help the American public recover from scars left by the Great Recession.
The agency’s future has again come into question after Cordray announced he will step down from his position at the end of November, prompting discussion about what’s next for the agency’s leadership under the Trump administration.
“Under Richard Cordray’s leadership, the federal government set up an effective watchdog that has been making progress in stopping the financial tricks and traps that have harmed so many American families,” explained Peterson. “But with Director Cordray stepping down and anti-consumer legislation making its way through Congress, the Consumer Bureau is at a crossroads.”
Peterson’s research, set to publish in a forthcoming issue of Consumer Finance Law Quarterly, shows how that the agency ordered banks and other financial companies that engaged in illegal practices to return nearly $12 billion in restitution to the pockets of harmed American families during Cordray’s administration.