The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overhaul of its Qualified Mortgage standard is alarming free-market advocates who say it will precipitate a return to easy credit and higher defaults and could disproportionately harm minorities.

Kathy Kraninger’s job status would be in question if Joe Biden wins the White House. If the president is reelected, she may continue balancing a deregulatory agenda with her unexpectedly tough stance on enforcement.

The bureau released a five-year review of the so-called TRID regulation that found consumers benefited from being able to compare mortgage terms and costs, but the price tag for the industry was roughly $146 per loan.

The bank contends that the misconduct wasn't widespread, but a whistleblower letter unearthed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau points to Chicago as a hotbed of customer abuse. "We are becoming a 'predatory' financial institution," the 2010 letter said.

Through Operation Corrupt Collector, the bureau is coordinating with over 50 other state and federal agencies to target firms for wrongdoing and inform consumers of their rights

The agency’s report on mortgage data submitted by lenders identified persistent disparities between white borrowers and minorities in denial rates and pricing. Some observers say the bureau should have been more explicit as the nation wrestles with systemic racism.

The future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed’s supervisory regime for the biggest financial institutions, reform of the Community Reinvestment Act and a host of other industry-related issues are on the ballot this November.

The agency finally detailed how it may implement congressional requirements to collect information on credit to small businesses. Lenders below certain asset thresholds and that make few business loans could be off the hook.

The bureau will detail how it will implement a Dodd-Frank Act provision requiring the agency to collect information on small-business lending in order to identify discrimination.

The financial industry has praised the measured approach taken in a pending regulation on permitted communications with consumers. But two recent complaints by the bureau against debt collectors reflect a potentially aggressive enforcement stance.