Are you ready for the new CFPB director?

By Janet Cambell

October 15, 2021

Over the last month, two of the biggest housing regulators either changed or were rumored to change leadership. In mid-September, there were talks that the Biden administration would nominate Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, as the new FHFA director, and at the end of September, Rohit Chopra was officially confirmed as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for a five-year term.

According to coverage from Senior Mortgage Reporter Georgia Kromrei, a lot remains to be seen with both of these leadership changes, leaving the industry looking for answers. The following Q&A helps shed some light on these changes, as Kromrei answers questions on what is going on with the federal regulators.

The following Q&A is from the HW+ exclusive Slack channel and has been lightly edited for length and clarity. To join future HW+ Q&As, you can join our premium membership program here.

HousingWire: To begin, could you give us more insight on what will Rohit Chopra’s focus be at the CFPB?

Georgia Kromrei: So, I think for the mortgage industry, in trying to predict what Chopra’s focus will be… the good news is that there has been quite a long time since Biden nominated Chopra back in January and when he was finally confirmed by the Senate, a couple of weeks ago.

The CFPB typically runs analyses of lenders’ performance and compares it to their peers — so lenders who want to avoid a redlining investigation will be looking to strengthen their internal data monitoring. That includes assessing their own performance, making sure they know who their peer group is, and who the CFPB may think their peer group is.

We can also glean a little bit about what the CFPB is working on in terms of redlining from their semi-annual report, which they released a few days ago. Don’t worry, I read it so you don’t have to!