Two House committees expressed concerns about Consumer Financial Protection Bureau transparency in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week. Specifically, the committees request documents regarding the ongoing mortgage settlement negotiations that involve coordination between the CFPB and State Attorneys General.
For several months, members of the two committees have sought answers as to the extent of the CFPB’s role in the mortgage settlement negotiations.
“As we have expressed in previous correspondence with you and in hearings before our respective committees, we remain concerned that transparency and accountability be given the highest priority throughout the government, especially in an agency as powerful and important as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” the members of Congress write in the letter.
Public interest group Judicial Watch recently uncovered emails, meeting minutes and other documentation to show CFPB has been “heavily” involved in the negotiations, according to the House Financial Services Committee.
When asked about the CFPB’s involvement during a March subcommittee hearing, special advisor Elizabeth Warren replied that the bureau provided advice when asked, the Committee said.
“It appears that the CFPB has been deeply involved in the mortgage servicing settlement negotiations and that its role goes far beyond the mere offering of ‘advice,’” the letter states.
The bureau, scheduled to take effect in one month on July 21, is still without a director.
View the letter from the two House committees.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
