Barely a few hours after the White House confirmed that President Obama would use a controversial recess appointment to install former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, both Obama and Cordray were sitting at the dining room table of Endia and William Eason; the Easons, both in their 90s, nearly lost their home due to “trickery and abuse” by a non-bank mortgage broker.
“The Easons need someone who will stand up for them,” President Obama told a crowd later at a Cleveland high school. “Millions of Americans need someone who will look out for their interests. They need someone like Richard.”
Part of Richard Cordray’s job will be to increase oversight of mortgage brokers, which has already started with new underwriting standards mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. His appointment will finally allow the CFPB to start regulating non-depository firms (non-bank lenders), which up to now it could not.