Kraninger’s job as CFPB director would be to defend consumers against abuse at the hands of Wall Street banks and predatory lenders, but she has shown no sign of being willing to take on this vital role. The full Senate should reject her nomination.
“In fulfilling its vital mission to protect consumers from deceptive and unfair financial practices, the Bureau needs a Director who is a champion of consumer protection and an advocate for the rights of ordinary Americans against the predations of big banks and unscrupulous market actors. Ms. Kraninger has shown no track record and given no indication in her confirmation hearing or public statements that she would defend the interests of consumers. For that reason we cannot support her nomination.”
“’We commend Senator Reed and his fellow senators for their leadership in protecting service members from abusive predatory lenders. Financial distress continues to be a leading factor that contributes to a lack of combat readiness and family stability for our men and women in uniform,’ said José Alcoff, payday campaign manager at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘Families and service members rely on the Consumer Bureau to ensure lenders comply with the law, and are caught if they target service members with debt trap loans.’”
Majorities of American voters across parties believe that the student debt burden – now at $1.5 trillion – represents a crisis for the country, according to a new poll. The survey also found widespread concern with efforts by Mick Mulvaney, the Trump official installed at the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to gut the agency’s student lending office.
A new polling memo from Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending documents the widespread agreement among American voters that the student debt burden, now at $1.5 trillion, is a crisis.
Voters of all political parties overwhelmingly oppose the actions taken by Mick Mulvaney to undermine the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and feel a strong connection between lax enforcement of the rules on Wall Street and their daily welfare. Ten years after the 2008 financial crisis brought on a searing recession, the survey revealed enduring, strong, and bipartisan support for tougher regulation of Wall Street and predatory lenders.
Ten Years after the 2008 Financial Crisis, Where Do We Stand? A conference with Sens. Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren and regulators who helped respond.
Brett Kavanaugh’s ruling, later overturned by the full DC circuit, that an independant CFPB is unconstitutional, is but one powerful indicator of the danger he would pose as a Supreme Court justice. Stripping financial regulators like CFPB of their independence means weaker consumer protections.
There was no evidence before her confirmation hearing that Kathy Kraninger would champion the interests of consumers, and there’s no evidence of it afterwards either.
Kavanaugh found that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was unconstitutional but was overturned in a thoughtfully reasoned decision that found many faults with his analysis. Independent agencies, which have existed in the United States for nearly a century, are vital institutions for creating a government that does not only serve wealthy interests.