Richard Cordray

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

In requiring the U.S. Senate to confirm presidential appointments, the Constitution aims to ensure a second level of scrutiny of the qualifications of government officials. But Senate Republicans have hijacked the confirmation process, not only to thwart individual nominees but to undermine laws they don't agree with. If they continue in their obstructionism, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should revisit the possibility of doing away with the filibuster for nominations. The most immediate test case involves the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that moderates disputes between labor and management.

WASHINGTON -- Federal banking regulators have ordered Capital One Bank to refund $150 million to about 2 million customers for deceptive marketing of payment protection and other add-on products sold with its credit cards. Capital One also must pay $60 million in civil penalties for the practices. The refunds and fines, which the bank has agreed to pay under consent orders, were announced Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Payday loans often trap consumers in a cycle of debt, a new report by the federal government finds. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that the average consumer took out 11 loans during a 12-month period, paying a total of $574 in fees - not including loan principal. A quarter of borrowers paid $781 or more in fees. "There is high sustained use - which we consider to be not only when a consumer rolls over the loan, but also when he pays it off and returns very quickly to take out another one," Richard Cordray, director of the bureau, said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Payday loans often trap consumers in a cycle of debt, a new report by the federal government finds. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that the average consumer took out 11 loans during a 12-month period, paying a total of $574 in fees - not including loan principal. A quarter of borrowers paid $781 or more in fees. "There is high sustained use - which we consider to be not only when a consumer rolls over the loan, but also when he pays it off and returns very quickly to take out another one," Richard Cordray, director of the bureau, said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

In requiring the U.S. Senate to confirm presidential appointments, the Constitution aims to ensure a second level of scrutiny of the qualifications of government officials. But Senate Republicans have hijacked the confirmation process, not only to thwart individual nominees but to undermine laws they don't agree with. If they continue in their obstructionism, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should revisit the possibility of doing away with the filibuster for nominations. The most immediate test case involves the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that moderates disputes between labor and management.

WASHINGTON — Richard Cordray has a message for opponents of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Neither he nor the new watchdog agency is going away. The bureau celebrates its first anniversary Saturday with opponents still trying to shut it down — or at least weaken its power. Instead, the bureau flexed its muscle for the first time this week. It joined with another banking regulator to order Capital One Bank to pay $210 million in refunds and fines to settle allegations of deceptive marketing tactics to credit card customers.

WASHINGTON - In nominating former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, President Obama aimed a strong message at potential Wall Street miscreants: Watch out. Obama amplified that decision Thursday by renominating Richard Cordray, a former state attorney general, as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray's controversial recess appointment to the 2-year-old agency expires at the end of the year. Obama said that White and Cordray were key to implementing the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations and protecting consumers and the financial system from the "kinds of abuse that nearly brought the economy to its knees.

WASHINGTON - Senators questioned two of President Obama's nominees for key financial regulatory positions, and Democrats and Republicans appeared to like both of them. But only one of those candidates is expected to be confirmed. Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, was on track to be confirmed as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission after Tuesday's hearing by the Senate Banking committee. However, the path for Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who has been renominated by Obama, was still blocked by Republicans who want changes to the agency.

The nation's top consumer watchdog is investigating one of the largest Buy Here Pay Here used car chains, the latest in a rising tide of scrutiny of the little-known industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a subpoena seeking information and business documents from DriveTime Automotive Group in Phoenix, according to a regulatory filing this week. DriveTime, with 90 dealerships nationwide, is the first Buy Here Pay Here company to be investigated by the federal agency that was created in 2010 as part of the overhaul of financial regulations.

WASHINGTON - Republicans have stepped up their pressure to limit the wide-ranging powers of the nation's watchdog over consumers' money matters. The head of a key House committee overseeing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said he would no longer accept the testimony of Richard Cordray, the bureau's director, before his panel because he doesn't believe Cordray was legally appointed to his post. Cordray, who delivered his semi-annual report to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, was set to do the same in coming weeks in the House, as required by law. But Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas)

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Mary Jo White's nomination to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, clearing the way for the former federal prosecutor to be confirmed soon as Wall Street's top watchdog. The Senate Banking Committee also approved the nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But that vote was split 12-10 along party lines, and the nomination is stalled because of the insistence of nearly all Senate Republicans that the bureau's structure be changed before they would allow a confirmation vote.

WASHINGTON - Senators questioned two of President Obama's nominees for key financial regulatory positions, and Democrats and Republicans appeared to like both of them. But only one of those candidates is expected to be confirmed. Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, was on track to be confirmed as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission after Tuesday's hearing by the Senate Banking committee. However, the path for Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who has been renominated by Obama, was still blocked by Republicans who want changes to the agency.

WASHINGTON -- A top House lawmaker is questioning the validity of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding, arguing that a recent court decision invalidating some of President Obama's recess appointments could make it unlawful for the agency's director to seek money to pay for its operations. The move is the latest in a long battle by many Republicans against the bureau, which was created in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Republicans say the bureau is too powerful and not accountable enough to Congress.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats said Thursday that they were united in opposing Republican efforts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and told President Obama they supported the renomination of Richard Cordray to head the agency. "It is time to confirm Richard Cordray as CFPB director to give the American people the protections they deserve and the marketplace the certainty it needs to help strengthen our economic recovery," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.)

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats said Thursday they were united in opposing Republican efforts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and told President Obama they supported the renomination of Richard Cordray to head the agency. "It is time to confirm Richard Cordray as CFPB director to give the American people the protections they deserve and the marketplace the certainty it needs to help strengthen our economic recovery," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.)

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court, dealing a defeat to President Obama, has sharply limited the chief executive's power to bypass the Senate and to make temporary “recess” appointments to fill vacant slots in government agencies. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a 3-0 ruling,  said the president can make recess appointments only when the Senate has formally adjourned between sessions of Congress, not when lawmakers leave Washington for a brief break. The Obama administration is almost certain to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court, in a far-reaching decision that could cripple operations at two agencies, sharply limited the president's power to bypass Senate confirmation and make so-called recess appointments. A three-judge panel decided that President Obama violated the Constitution last year by appointing three members to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was not meeting. But the broader implications of Friday's ruling mean the Senate's Republican minority can all but halt the work of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the NLRB by preventing the president from appointing its leaders or board members.

WASHINGTON -- Nearly all Senate Republicans have pledged to block the confirmation of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, adding to the uncertainty about the agency's leadership after a recent court ruling threatening his recess appointment to the position. "Far too much power is vested in the sole CFPB director without any meaningful checks and balances," the senators wrote to President Obama on Friday. The letter was signed by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court, in a far-reaching decision that could cripple operations at two agencies, sharply limited the president's power to bypass Senate confirmation and make so-called recess appointments. A three-judge panel decided that President Obama violated the Constitution last year by appointing three members to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was not meeting. But the broader implications of Friday's ruling mean the Senate's Republican minority can all but halt the work of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the NLRB by preventing the president from appointing its leaders or board members.