About this episode
In today’s Daily Download episode, HW+ Managing Editor Brena Nath interviews former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray. Cordray served for six years as the first director of the CFPB, and before joining the bureau, he served as Ohio’s Attorney General. In this interview, Cordray explains why he thinks the industry needs to redefine how they look at foreclosures. He does this by sharing lessons from the financial crisis and what the road ahead looks like as the industry figures out how to handle the fact that 8.8% of U.S. mortgages are in forbearance. He also discusses the immediate threats in the foreclosure process. “There's a lot of market pressure right now, and there will continue to be. Everybody's going to be fighting to handle this,” Cordray said in response to what advice he would give lenders and servicers given all the unknowns in the market. “The more friendly you can be toward consumers and the more compliant you can be, the better off you are. But again, there are significant economic pressures that are making that hard,” he said. “In the long run, the industry should insist on reforms,” said Cordray. “Right now, I think it's a very, very dramatic and dangerous situation that many services are in, and we could avoid this in the future, and we should. That's what congressional reforms should look to and should put in place so that we learn from the past, just as we did in the last crisis, we can do it again.” HousingWire articles covered in this episode: [PULSE] How should we think about foreclosures? [PULSE] Does the mortgage industry view foreclosure as a last resort? [PULSE] Will servicers be able to flatten the curve in foreclosures? Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray: Are servicers prepared to provide relief to borrowers?