<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/41216-wells-fargos-latest-fake-account-revelation-proves-why-the-cfpb-must-survive" class="">https://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/41216-wells-fargos-latest-fake-account-revelation-proves-why-the-cfpb-must-survive</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I<span style="font-size: 21px;" class="">’m done.</span></div><div class="advertisement " id="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;"></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">I really just can’t anymore.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class=""><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Wells Fargo</strong>’s latest revelation is the straw that broke my back.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Yesterday, <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41167-wells-fargo-scandal-deepens-bank-reveals-up-to-14-million-more-fake-accounts" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">Wells Fargo disclosed</a> that an expanded internal investigation found that the bank opened a significantly larger amount of “potentially unauthorized” accounts than first thought.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">It wasn’t the 2.1 million fake accounts that the led to the<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</strong>, the <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Office of the Comptroller of the Currency</strong>, and the city and county of Los Angeles handing down a <a href="http://www.housingwire.com/articles/37993-cfpb-levies-100-million-fine-against-wells-fargo" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">$185 million fine</a> against Wells Fargo.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">It was actually much more than that. 1.4 million more, to be exact.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Instead of the 2.1 million “potentially unauthorized” accounts opened by 5,000 of the bank’s former employees in order to get sales bonuses, it was actually 3.5 million potentially unauthorized consumer and small business accounts opened during the period of the expanded investigation – from January 2009 through September 2016.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">As many as 1.4 million <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">MORE</em></strong> fake accounts? 3.5 million total?</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">ARE YOU F$*KING KIDDING ME????</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Now, the bank was very careful to state that the new investigation “erred on the side of customers” by conducting “data-driven” analysis and looking at account usage patterns of consumer and small business checking, savings, and unsecured credit card and line of credit account data.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">The bank also stated that “since usage patterns of some authorized accounts opened with a customer’s consent can be similar to some unauthorized accounts, it is likely that some properly authorized accounts were included in the population identified as unauthorized accounts.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Basically, Wells Fargo is trying to say that its investigation was so thorough that it’s possible that some real accounts were included in the 3.5 million total of “potentially unauthorized” accounts.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And we use “potentially unauthorized” because that’s how the bank puts it in its materials.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">The bottom line is that Wells Fargo doesn’t know for sure how many fake accounts were actually opened. In some cases, they can’t tell the difference between a fake account and a real account.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But it’s possible that the bank’s employees actually opened 3.5 million accounts in customers’ names without their authorization.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">That’s disgusting.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And while the bank talks a good game, <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41167-wells-fargo-scandal-deepens-bank-reveals-up-to-14-million-more-fake-accounts" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">stating</a> that all affected customers will be paid back, either via direct remediation from the bank or through a <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40639-wells-fargo-142-million-fake-account-settlement-nearing-final-approval" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">$142 million settlement</a> in a class-action lawsuit, it doesn’t change the fact that the bank’s employees preyed on the innocence and ignorance of their customers and opened millions of fake accounts to get sales bonuses.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And it doesn’t change the fact that Wells Fargo cultivated an atmosphere that encouraged its employees to take advantage of their customers.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Wells Fargo’s employees used the fact that their customers trusted the bank and the fact that some of their customers don’t check their account status every single day to commit fraud.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">What’s a couple fake accounts opened up in some senior citizen’s name? They’ll never notice because we’ll close the account before they get their monthly statement in the mail. They don’t bank online, so they’ll never know. And we get our bonuses. It’s perfect.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And gross.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">The truth is, I’m getting sick and tired of reading about and reporting on companies taking advantage of their customers and basically getting away with it.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Sure, Wells Fargo will change how it <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38926-wells-fargo-unveils-replacement-for-scandal-ridden-pay-plan" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">does business</a>, pay its <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/37993-cfpb-levies-100-million-fine-against-wells-fargo" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">big fine</a>, pay out its <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40639-wells-fargo-142-million-fake-account-settlement-nearing-final-approval" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">big settlement</a>, hand out its <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41167-wells-fargo-scandal-deepens-bank-reveals-up-to-14-million-more-fake-accounts" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">remediation</a>, and some of the bank’s executives will <a href="http://www.housingwire.com/articles/38268-scandal-plagued-wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-relinquishes-post" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">lose their jobs</a> or their <a href="http://www.housingwire.com/articles/39460-wells-fargo-revokes-2016-bonuses-for-top-execs-warns-there-could-be-more-fake-accounts" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">bonuses</a> (LOL!), but the bank keeps on trucking. The fake account issue becomes a mere speed bump in the bank’s history.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Wells Fargo steals from its customers, pays the fines, and gets to keep doing business.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But what happens if a person steals from Wells Fargo? Oh yeah, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/columbus-bank-robber-pleads-guilty-after-jury-selected" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">they go to jail</a>.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Now, I’m not arguing that someone who breaks the law doesn’t deserve to be punished. Quite the opposite, in fact. If a person commits a crime, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">So that makes me wonder if anyone from Wells Fargo who committed these fraudulent acts will end up in jail over this?</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">HAHAHAHA!</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">That’s hilarious. We don’t punish big bank employees for committing financial crimes in this country. We certainly didn’t after the financial crisis.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">That’s the problem with these types of things. We rightfully blame the bank for its astounding lack of institutional control, but the people who actually committed these acts and oversaw them escape relatively unscathed.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Sure, some of them lost their jobs and lost their bonuses, but none of them are going to jail.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">What we do instead (or at least what we used to do) is increase financial regulation to try to prevent companies from screwing over their customers, again.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And I say “used to do” because the Republican Party <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40408-treasury-gut-cfpb-overhaul-residential-mortgage-lending-regulation" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">seems dead-set</a> on <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40376-house-votes-to-abolish-dodd-frank" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">rolling back</a> many of the financial regulations enacted since the financial crisis.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">One of the Republicans’ <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/37213-inside-the-foundation-shattering-republican-plan-to-abolish-dodd-frank" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">favorite targets</a> is the CFPB, the agency tasked with protecting the people of this country from financial abuses.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But that’s not how Republicans and so many of the people in the financial services industry think of it.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">They think of it as the bane of their existence; a truly unnecessary governmental nuisance that keeps the financial industry to being able to operate functionally and fully.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">I’ve talked to enough people who work in the housing business to know that the CFPB made their lives much harder. Dealing with the CFPB and its various regulations impacts companies’ ability to serve their customers and make money.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">I get why they hate the CFPB. I really do.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But, I can’t just sit back and watch the Republican Party undo all of the financial regulation borne out of the financial crisis. I just can’t.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Situations like Wells Fargo show why the CFPB <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">must exist</u></em></strong><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">.</em></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">It’s absolutely, critically important to have a government agency that can protect consumers from financial institutions that lie to them, steal from them, and prey on them.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But Republicans seem hell-bent on either <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/39223-ted-cruz-introduces-bill-to-abolish-cfpb" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">killing the CFPB</a> or <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40196-trump-budget-surprise-gutting-the-cfpb" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">defanging it considerably</a>.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">I’m sure House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and other Republicans in Washington are <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40896-hensarling-wants-cfpbs-cordray-investigated-for-potential-election-law-violations" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">counting down</a> the moments until CFPB Director Richard Cordray steps down (perhaps as soon as <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41163-speculation-rises-as-cfpb-director-cordray-fails-to-shut-down-ohio-governor-rumors" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">THIS WEEKEND</a>) so they can replace him with a potted plant.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And with the Republicans’ chosen potted plant in charge of the CFPB, the bureau will surely be significantly less proactive about regulating the financial services industry than it has been with Cordray in charge.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">I know that Hensarling and others tried to <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40446-cfpb-director-cordray-responds-to-claims-he-slowed-wells-fargo-investigation" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">smear the CFPB</a> in the wake of the original Wells Fargo investigation by <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40369-republican-staff-cfpb-director-slowing-down-wells-fargo-account-scandal-investigation" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">suggesting</a> that the CFPB took too long to act.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">They claim that the <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/40369-republican-staff-cfpb-director-slowing-down-wells-fargo-account-scandal-investigation" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">CFPB’s inaction</a> is a signal that the bureau is a failed institution and needs to be reformed. And they’re right, but not in the way they think.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">The CFPB does need to be reformed. But it needs to be strengthened, not neutered.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">We need a stronger regulatory system in this country. Not a weaker one.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">It needs to be smart regulation, but even with all the regulation that Dodd-Frank wrought, Wells Fargo still happened. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/39917-cfpb-sues-ocwen-alleges-total-failure-of-mortgage-servicing-process" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">Ocwen</a> </strong>still happened. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/39012-cfpb-fines-citifinancial-servicing-and-citimortgage-29-million" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">CitiMortgage</a> </strong>still happened. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/31517-cfpb-fines-flagstar-375-million-for-mortgage-servicing-violations" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">Flagstar</a></strong>still happened. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/38859-transunion-fined-169-million-by-cfpb-for-advertising-practices" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">Transunion</a> </strong>still happened.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">And’s that just a small sample.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Financial services companies are still screwing up, whether it’s on purpose or not. And it all happened on the CFPB’s watch. So make the bureau stronger, not weaker. Allow it to truly function how it was designed to function. Let the bureau really protect people.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">The CFPB needs to be there to hold those companies responsible, and to work to prevent things like Wells Fargo from happening at all.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Now, I’m sure people reading this will happily slap labels on me like “liberal,” “Democrat,” or “progressive” for suggesting that the CFPB needs to continue to exist and get stronger.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Heaven forbid someone disagree with one piece of the Republican Party line, lest they be branded as a “bleeding heart liberal” or whatever.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">So be it.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">This is more important than labels or political parties. It’s about common sense and doing what’s right.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">It’s about making sure that people don’t get screwed over by companies that they trust with their money.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">Here’s the thing. It’s entirely possible that Richard Cordray <a href="https://www.housingwire.com/articles/41006-attempt-no-2-group-files-foia-request-with-cfpb-over-cordrays-alleged-ohio-governor-campaign" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); color: rgb(26, 121, 145); text-decoration: none;" class="">could resign</a> over the weekend. That’s what all the rumors seem to say anyway. And if he does, we’re all about to enter a whole new world of financial regulation; one that’s different than what we’ve seen over the last few years. It’s my hope that the next version of the financial regulatory system will be better and stronger than what we have now.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 21px;" class="">But forgive me if have my doubts. </div></div></body></html>