Richard Cordray to Head CFPB--A First Hand Perspective

President Obama will formally announce today that his choice for the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be former Ohio Attorney General and current CFPB Director of Enforcement, Richard Cordray. Cordray’s resume is loaded, from education, work experience, and even being a Jeopardy champion (no joke). But what makes Cordray an even more valuable choice to working families and those concerned about asset building are the idiosyncrasies and traits that aren’t on a resume.

My experiences with Cordray have been frequent since he began his career as a local county treasurer in Columbus. He demands information…and a lot of it. He puts a premium on being the smartest guy in the room or ensuring those around him are. Despite his frustrations with predatory lenders and the challenging political environment that is Ohio, Cordray’s persona was calm and collected. And it never stopped him from being aggressive, including his lawsuits against foreclosure rescue scammers on his way out of office.

One always has the sense that Cordray understands the middle-class and working families (while AG he drove the family minivan, refusing a state car). He helped form Ohio’s EITC Commission, focusing on tax preparation assistance and claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the nation’s largest poverty relief program. Cordray was consistently alarmed that families were not claiming the EITC and that many were ripped off by paid tax preparers. He took this Commission, obviously a traditional fit for a state Treasurer, to the Attorney General’s office because he was so passionate about it.

Cordray regularly took on a nearly impossible task…home foreclosures. He held annual summits on foreclosures, inviting groups that provide free housing counseling and ensuring that bank representatives would be on hand. He sued servicers and lenders. He also brought them to the table to negotiate. When payday lenders began using arcane lending laws to side-step new usury limits on payday loans, Cordray was the only state elected official to testify in support of a measure to close the loophole.

While Cordray has a history of working with others, negotiating deals and gives the “cool as a cucumber” persona…those that rip-off, mislead, and harm consumers should beware. He is no shrinking violet (the Columbus Dispatch shows that here). Cordray will take this role very seriously and not tolerate a “business as usual” attitude.

There still remains a huge question as to whether the Senate will confirm anyone for this job (here's Mike Konczal and Matt Yglesias on that), but there’s no doubt that Cordray is a highly qualified candidate. He should be confirmed swiftly.