AP source: Mulvaney to temporarily lead consumer agency

WASHINGTON – White House budget director Mick Mulvaney is expected to take on a second role in the Trump administration as acting director of a consumer financial agency created by the Obama administration.

Mulvaney is expected to be named to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on an acting basis in addition to his duties as director of the Office of Management and Budget. That’s according to an administration official familiar with the plan, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

An announcement is expected in the coming days, the person said. White House officials declined to comment.

Mulvaney will succeed Richard Cordray, an Obama appointee who announced his departure on Wednesday. The White House said Wednesday that Trump would choose a successor “at the appropriate time.”

The president could appoint a new director who could remake the agency and potentially roll back the protections Cordray and his staff put into place.

The CFPB was created as part of the laws passed following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession. The agency has acted as a watchdog for consumers dealing with banks, credit card, student loan and mortgage companies, as well as debt collectors and payday lenders.

Congressional Republicans have called the CFPB a “rogue agency” and argued that Cordray was overstepping his boundaries.