Mulvaney requests zero funding for CFPB

Dealers should not have to worry about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the next quarter. The regulatory agency will have a modest budget, no reserves to carry out its mission and a director who dislikes burdensome regulations.

The CFPB acting director, Mick Mulvaney, has never been a fan of the agency he now heads. In the spirit of cutting back on regulations, he sent a zero dollar budget request to the Federal Reserve Board, which receives a budget request from the CFPB every quarter. That’s $0. The action was first reported by Politico.

The reason: Mulvaney discovered that the CFPB has a reserve of $177 million for emergencies. The agency’s second quarter budget is $145 million, which is more than covered by the reserve. Mulvaney said the reserve is unnecessary because the Fed has always given the CFPB the money it requests.

In fact, Mulvaney plans to return the $145 million from its reserve to the Fed as the CFPB’s contribution to reducing the deficit.

Since Mulvaney came to the agency, it has changed its mission statement, adding as its first priority “regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.” Dealers will clearly see a very different CFPB than they did under its former director,  Richard Cordray. The FTC has provided directions and guidance that can be accessed here.

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