Cordray to head CFPB enforcement division

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will head the enforcement division of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a handful of media reports. The Obama administration is set to announce the appointment later Wednesday, according to Reuters, citing a Treasury Department official. Cordray, who lost a re-election bid to Republican Mike DeWine, has been a leading critic of mortgage lenders and servicers the past few years. He has sued a few mortgage servicers and the world’s three largest credit rating agencies, claiming investors were misled and homeowners have been improperly foreclosed upon. The lawsuits resulted in $2 billion of recovered damages for the plaintiffs. In March, Cordray told HousingWire he hopes the lawsuits encourage other servicers to change practices and avoid litigation. “I would hope we don’t have to sue every one of them and they would get the message,” Cordray said at the time. He sued Standard & Poor’s, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service seeking compensation for Ohio pensions systems he said received “bogus ratings that were given by the credit rating agencies, that, frankly, were not justified, and that were driven by fee-based considerations for the ratings agencies.” Write to Jason Philyaw.