Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, has urged the president to stand behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its case against PHH Corp.
Brown, who filed an amicus brief in PHH Corp. v. CFPB along with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and other legislators, made the appeal following the news of PHH’s $45 million settlement over allegations of mortgage servicing violations by state attorney generals.
The state settlement is separate from the court case against the CFPB, in which PHH Corp. seeks to reverse a $109 million penalty handed to the company by then-Director Richard Cordray over captive reinsurance RESPA violations.
In a release from Brown, the senator said about 2,000 Ohio borrowers were expected to qualify for redress in the state enforcement action, totaling more than $1.2 million.
“This settlement by a bipartisan group of 49 state attorneys general is a reminder that many Americans still haven’t recovered from the abuses that caused the financial crisis,” Brown said in the release. “I hope the administration takes their side, by vigorously pursuing the CFPB’s enforcement action against PHH and nominating a CFPB director with bipartisan support that will aggressively enforce consumer laws and stand tough against special interests and big banks.”
Before President Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department had been behind the CFPB’s stance in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, but in an appeal hearing before the en banc court of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department requested its own time in oral arguments to back its position that the bureau is unconstitutionally structured.
That hearing was conducted May 24 and a ruling is still awaited.
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