PBS高端访谈:消费者金融保护局的执法变化将如何影响消费者

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HARI SREENIVASAN: In his first week as acting¹ director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney said that President Trump² put him in the position to "Protect people without trampling³ on capitalism⁴". And one of Mulvany's more controversial moves was revealed this week to strip the enforcement power from the C.F.P.B. unit that pursues discrimination cases. Joining me to discuss the new tactic⁵ of the C.F.P.B. is Washington Post reporter Renae Merle. So first tell us what did the C.F.P.B. do or what are they planning to do?

RENAE MERLE: Well right now you have Mick Mulvaney as acting director and he's trying to reform this agency and make it not as aggressive as it has been under Democratic leadership. And so he's pulling back from some of the more aggressive actions that the C.F.P.B. has done over the last couple of years.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And specifically this division that he's restructuring used to do what?

RENAE MERLE: The Office of Fair Lending was in charge of finding cases where minorities – blacks, Hispanics or women were being charged more than whites and they brought some big cases against both banks and auto⁶ lenders where they found that blacks and Hispanics were being charged more – a higher interest rate, which could amount to hundreds of dollars. And they brought some cases in those circumstances.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So in those cases the banks that are paying millions of dollars in fines?

RENAE MERLE: Yes. Yes the banks ended up paying millions of dollars a fine and Ally Financial case which is one of them or landmark⁷ cases in this area, they paid almost a hundred million dollars and were accused of charging again blacks and Hispanics more higher interest rates for auto loans.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So what happens to this particular group now if it moves under the aegis⁸ or umbrella of the director's office?

RENAE MERLE: It's basically going from career government leadership to political leadership. It's going to be in the director's office. It's going to do most of the same things but it's not going to have the fat, the power to pursue cases or supervise companies and with supervising companies you're at the company data in day out and seeing if they're doing the right – things they're no longer to have the power to do that. Instead they're going to be doing things like education and coordination⁹. And so it's just not going to have the same force that it has over the last six years.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So this is just one part of kind of a philosophical¹⁰ stance that Mick Mulvaney has taken of how he wants to reform the C.F.P.B. in a different light?

RENAE MERLE: So Mick Mulvaney, before he became acting director, he was a Republican congressman¹¹. And at that time he called the C.F.P.B. a joke. He said he wished it didn't exist. He cosponsored legislation that would have done away with the agency. Now is that the head of the agency and he does say we're going to do whatever the law says the CFPB should do. But they're obviously not going to be doing it in the same aggressive manner as they did before. Mick Mulvaney thinks that it should be more of a cooperation with the financial sector¹² that it's not about punishing them, it's about working with them.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So is there a solution that might work in the next six months or a year to try to balance this out? What does what does the C.F.P.B. kind of office or what does a director's office say? Are they saying "Don't be concerned about this. We will still do enforcement."

RENAE MERLE: Yeah there's definitely saying we're still going into enforcement. They actually are saying that now that the Office of Fair Lending is in the director's office it's closer to the top of the organization. Though that means it's also a part of the political operation of this bureau so it doesn't have the same powers go after companies.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Ok, Renae Merle of The Washington Post. Thanks so much for joining us.

RENAE MERLE: Thank you.

哈里·斯林瓦森：米克·马尔瓦尼上任消费者金融保护局（CFPB）代理局长的第一周就说，特朗普总统将他置于了“保护人民而不践踏资本主义”的位置上。本周马尔瓦尼上任后，有多项举措引发争议，其中一个就是削除了CFPB歧视案件行动组的执行权。华盛顿邮报记者瑞娜·莫尔做客节目，与我们讨论CFPB的这项新举措。那么，首先请告诉我们CFPB已经采取了哪些行动，下一步还将怎么做？

瑞娜·莫尔：好的，如今米克·马尔瓦尼担任了消费者金融保护局代理局长，并试图在这个机构里实施改革，使得它不再像民主党领导时那么咄咄逼人。在过去几年中，CFPB行动积极，举措冒进，马尔瓦尼对部分太过激进的行动予以了撤回。

哈里·斯林瓦森：那么具体来说，他正在重整的这个部门，过去都怎样行事？

瑞娜·莫尔：当少数族裔——黑人、西班牙裔美国人或女性群体，相比白人（或男性群体），遭遇了不平等的高收费时，公平贷款办公室就会出面处理。他们也会针对银行和汽车贷款机构，处理一些针对黑人和西班牙裔美国人的大型不平等收费案件或高利率案件，这些金额可能高达数百美元。他们会接手一些这样的案件。

哈里·斯林瓦森：那么，这些案件中，涉案银行将支付数百万美元的罚款？

瑞娜·莫尔：是的，那些银行最终支付了数百万美元的罚款，而Ally Financial案件，正是其中之一，在这方面，它具有里程碑意义。他们支付的罚款额接近了一亿美元，并被指控此后还有对黑人及拉美裔美国人收取更高汽车贷款利率的情况。

哈里·斯林瓦森：那么，如果（公平贷款办公室）是在（如今的）消费者金融保护局带领下，这一特殊群体的情况又会如何呢？

瑞娜·莫尔：公平贷款办公室基本上从职业性的政府领导转变为了政治领导。它将在消费者金融保护局的领导下。它后面要做的事情，大部分保持不变，但它追案子或监督公司的力度将有所削弱。监督公司的话，你会获得公司的日常数据，看看他们是否规矩——而现在他们已失去了如此行事的权利。相反，他们将承担起教育和协调工作。因此，相比过去六年，它的力量也将不复往昔。

哈里·斯林瓦森：米克·马尔瓦尼采取了某种哲学立场，他以一个不同视角来改革CFPB？

瑞娜·莫尔：在成为代理局长之前，米克·马尔瓦尼是一个共和党议员。当时他称CFPB是个笑话。他说他希望它消失。他倡立将该机构废除。现在他成了该机构的负责人，他说法律要CFPB做什么，我们就做什么。但他们显然不会像以前那样咄咄逼人。米克·马尔瓦尼认为，公平贷款办公室更应该与金融部门合作，而不是惩罚他们，就是和他们一起工作。

哈里·斯林瓦森：那么，在未来半年或一年内，有没有能解决这一问题的办法呢？类似CFPB的办公室或消费者金融保护局怎么说？他们是在说“别担心这个。我们仍然会执法。”吗？

瑞娜·莫尔：是的，肯定是说我们还在执法。他们实际上在说，现在公平贷款办公室是在消费者金融保护局的带领下，它更接近该组织的顶端了。虽然这意味着它也是该局政治运作的一部分，所以它丧失了和以前一样追罚公司的权力。

哈里·斯林瓦森：好的，华盛顿邮报的瑞娜·莫尔。非常感谢你的参与。

瑞娜·莫尔：谢谢。