but not from a big tower at a certain volume where the whole region heard it. it would be amplified on a lower volume which in the quadrangle by mechanical means where people around that area would hear it. >> that is true but the important thing is the physical occupation of the christian chapel for those prayers will not happen.

that is what is important. >> this seems to be some debate about this but whether it is in this instance or not you can take it to the banks that unless people of other faiths understand that what they are being duped by is a deliberate strategy of subversion from within, is this notion that bridgebuilding and their participation in it is a matter of ecumenical is a man solidarity in defense of first amendment religious freedom rights. is actually a cynical act on the part of those that they are interacting with. we are reminded of a passage from one of the most influential jihadists ideologues in modern times, said khoutup. they often find it on the

battlefield as a guidance. one of the things he says about bridgebuilding, this is a close paraphrase is the chasm between islam and the and the beavers is so vast that no bridge can be built to span it except for the purpose of bringing the unbeliever to islam. in other words this is a 1-way bridge, folks. and every pastor every chaplin every priest, every rabbi, what have you, who is being subjected to this kind of come here is actually being victimized by the jihadists. i will close this by bringing to the podium as a special and totally unexpected pleasure a man that i have come to know. i got to give you one accolade. the man who is fighting come to

the microphone the former 29 commandant, former commandant, 29 commandant of the united states marine corps. a friend of the security policy center recipients in 2013 of our freedom shield awards and one of the greatest americans i had the privilege of knowing and the perfect capsule into this program. >> i want to give my personal thanks to the panel and the entire group for a tremendous idea tremendous effort and one that we have to make work, we have to make it operate and we have to win this one. all of the people here that talk to us stress directly and indirectly the need for a total government effort. all the elements of national power, all the elements of national influence, whether it is economic, suicidal

political, technology, military all of us have to be pulled together in a super interagency effort. we must have a congress on our side. we must have an administration that understands what is going on and we must have a judiciary capabilities that understands it as well so this is going to be a mammoth undertaking and a mammoth educational undertaking for all americans and really for all of those in the free world that aspire to remain free. one idea i would throw out to you is you got to make in this not just u.s.. president reagan had needle and was a strong believer in a row and had other alliances and organizations so it has got to beat a free world efforts and it

does not have to hinge only on democracy. a lot of people are not interested in democracy. they are interested in security. first and foremost. we have to remember that. we don't want to go to areas and promote democracy when that is not the issue right now. the issue is for us to survive as the nation, continue to lead the free world perchance flourish in the totality of elements of national capability. i think that our intelligence community has been wounded severely by the traitorous act of ed snowden. we need to restore that and we need to restore that very quickly. the men and women who make up the intelligence community, whether it is superamerican people. and they do things wrong, take

them to the bank. we need to reinforce that capability with our intelligence community. we are neophytes in the world of information operations and we are losing the information war. and what professor wallace says is we've got to regain that, regain what we had with voices of europe and the freedom of america and all those things. we don't do that very well. how do we educate the american people and the free world as we know it. and younger people they've learned differently by different means and we have got to have an education program that is second to none and it is not the old-fashioned idea giving a lecture can attack the problem. we have to be very clear on how we they find certain things.

the radical jihad is some is the right approach, not just jihad in total. the koran has been interpreted, there are many similarities, we don't want to make any more enemies. so we have to be careful, we need to look -- a joint chief of staff, and the rest of us order us to go down and steam around haiti and every year, every diminishing circle in haiti and every year some 5 beta kappa and joint chiefs of staff announced we would drop leaflets and every

year i remind them, they can't read so finally this time when we went to haiti wheat used loudspeakers, we simply don't know what we are talking about and we are not the most brilliant people in the world by a long shot so we need to take all the help we can get. i want to thank the panel until you are on the right track and somehow you failed to mention how we are going to take advantage of the world's greatest media. i will put it that way. they are a big part of it and somehow they have got to get on board and quit making heroes of these people are doing terrorist tactics. the war is not against terrorism. that his been made clear by this panel. how do we teach the american people that the war is not against terrorism? it is just a tactic. it has been around for a long time. is in the koran the torah the bible and it is going to be there.

that is not the issue. anyway thanks for bringing this to our attention. >> i can't thank you enough for being here and attesting to the importance of this and i hope that you help us bring it to the attention of a great many other people. in closing let me say my own personal a list is radical jihad is confusing. it is a pretty radical program for sure but jihad is jihad as you referred to others talk about here and we have to prevent it from being waged against us. we encourage everyone to go to securefreedom.org, a website of security policy. it is 94 pages it is meant to be a contribution to a debate we believe is long overdue and

hopefully start getting serious now about what has to be done to secure freedom. with that i would like to close by acting upon tommy waller's suggestion and as you all to join us in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. thank you very much for being here. [inaudible conversations] >> here are our featured programs for the c-span networks. on c-span2 tonight at 10:00 on

booktv's afterwards wall street journal editor britt stephens argues that our enemies and competitors that taking advantage of the situation abroad created by the u.s. as it focuses on domestic concerns. sunday night at 10:00 democratic representative from new york steve israel on his recent novel about a top-secret government surveillance program. on american history tv on c-span3 at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures and history george mason university history professor john turner on the mormons and their creed and news of and in the american west in the 1830s and sunday afternoon at 4:00 on real america the 1964 academy award winning film about the forced desegregation of the all white central high school. find our complete television schedule at c-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. 202-626-3400. e-mail us at comments at

c-span.org or send us a tweet at c-span hash tag comments. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> tuesday night president obama delivers his state of the union address. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern including the president's speech the gop response delivered by iowa senator joni ernst and your reaction through open phones live on c-span and c-span radio. c-span2 what the president's speech and congressional reaction in the u.s. capital. the state of the union address live on c-span c-span radio and c-span.org. >> richard cordray of the consumer protection bureau talk about the mortgage lending industry and highlighted measures his agency is taking to better inform mortgage borrowers. his remarks at the brookings

institution are 45 minutes. >> but afternoon everyone. today i have the pleasure of welcoming my friend, consumer find -- consumer financial protection bureau richard cordray to the government studies program at brookings. also want to welcome the many dignitaries and colleagues in the audience as well as those of you who are watching on the brookings governance studies live stream, on c-span and those following the event on twitter, hash tag cfpb. one of the toughest challenges we research in government studies is setting up a new

federal agency. richard cordray has led his great team in mastering that challenge. in the three years since he took the helm of the cfpb as its first director. for those of us who knew him before he took on this monumental task, that success is no surprise because of his previous experience dealing with consumer finance each use in an exceptionally diverse government career. director at 18 served of ohio at the representative, county treasurer before becoming enforcement director of the cfpb and its first head in january of 2012. myself having worked in the white house on the

administration's proposal for dodd-frank including the cfpb, i can say the new agency has done all we hope for and then some. perhaps that is because the agency is being led by at five time jeopardy champion. when they asked rich how he would use his jeopardy winnings back in the 80s he said he would among other things pay off his student loans, and other obligations. he has firsthand experiences with the consumer finance each use that his agency addresses. i am pleased to welcome richard cordray for the announcement of a new cfpb initiatives including the most important consumer finance the issue, home mortgages. as you will hear, the work they're doing is an example of how government can do more to

help the middle class and all americans. i give you director richard cordray. [applause] >> thank you mr. ambassador. he is a friend, he had deep admiration for his public service, multitalented and not only diplomatic efforts on behalf of our country but his previous work with ethics foundational work for this administration which has been effective and lasting and before that as he indicated and noted, he is an expert in consumer finance with keen insight, which my family visited him at the u.s. embassy in prague, czech republic and after a few days he summed up the visit by saying i

was his least favorite cordray. took me a while to reconcile myself to that comment. thank you for having me today. i bring my best wishes for the new year and also offer what i regard sage counsel from of the national once advised about the new year ring out the old, ring in the new but don't get caught in between. every january has marked a significant personal development at the consumer financial protection bureau. four years ago that was when i join the bureau. three is ago president obama named me the first director by means of a recess appointment. two years ago we finalize our first set of new rules to improve the mortgage market. last year after i had been confirmed as director thanks to the u.s. senate those rules went into effect across the country and this year we continue the ongoing work by helping consumers gain greater control

from the mortgage process. it remains the single largest consumer of financial market in the world and as we know all too well in the run up to the financial crisis it was the mortgage market that was damaged by reckless lending. the damage caused the broader economy to crash and the housing market has been gradually recovering, it lagged the pace of recovery in many of their sectors over the past 5 to 6 years. as directed by congress our ability to repay ruled that the defect last year was designed to ensure that lenders offer only mortgages to consumers about to afford. that will knows the qualified mortgage will put in place new protections, and it was more sustainable. since the mortgage rules were implemented a exactly one year ago today we have not seen dramatic changes as some fear. i recall seeing brash predictions such as the price of mortgages would double in the

volume of mortgages could be halved but by the time these rules went into affect lenders had retreated from the worst sorts of lending such as ninja loans loans so-called because they could be made to people with no income, no jobs and no assets. loans with negative m organization often made the borrowers who could accrue vote mortgage so they owed more overtime also dried up in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis. dirksen senate office building further measures in place to make sure you're respectful landon would never be allowed to reappear. at the same time we did not anticipate rules would affect the broader market in and in tents or abrupt fashion. instead the loans backed by fannie mae and freddie mac as well as the f h a and the department of agriculture would be protected under the new rules. another special provision assures thousands of small creditors like community banks and credit unions can do the

kind of responsible lending they have always done to serve their markets across the country. in these ways we protected key elements of the mortgage market even as we installed new guard rails to prevent irresponsible bending long after members of the crisis may have faded. the mortgage market continues to yield from the great damage by the financial crisis with foreclosure rates and delinquency continuing gradually to fall. home values have been improving and the volume of homes that are underwater with more than it is worth remain on an encouraging but gradual downward trajectory. there are growing signs of and demand among help first-time home buyers which could be a key point. this is a slow segment of the market for several years but give it a definite boost. the core purpose of the rule was to restore reliability to the mortgage market. when people take out a loan they deserve to have confidence there not been set up to fail. with such confidence they can be more actively engaged in the

process of seeking a good outcome. they can choose the lender and a product with the tears best suited to their budget and their vision of what they want for themselves and their families. making these choices effectively will depend on people being actively engage in weighing their options and understanding how to shop around but we know it can be difficult, hard to understand how to shop and the process can be intimidating to say the least especially with the paperwork. we are releasing our initiative calls and owning a home. is designed to empower consumers with information they need to make good decisions and talked to lenders with confidence. consumers will gain greater control over the outcomes of the mortgage process and maximize the benefits of this major transaction. the report we are issuing on the consumers mortgage shopping experience is based on results from new data in a national

survey of mortgage borrowers. and the mortgage to buy a home fail to shop before applying for a mortgage meaning they seriously considered only a single lender or broker before making the decision. by contrast most consumers put substantial effort into considering deferring housing needs. they routinely waive the most basic questions about which house to buy such as wearing a want to live and how many bedrooms and bathrooms they think they will need to do not seem to be as careful or confident in weighing the economic aspects of the mortgage decisions such as what down payment they can afford or what mortgage terms fit their unique financial needs. given the importance of this major purchase almost nobody looks only at one house and decides to stop right there. consumers spend time looking at different neighborhoods and different homes for sale. the same should be true of mortgage loans. when you are spending a lot of money you are literally betting the house on the choices you are making and it is highly

beneficial to shop around. our study also found consumers there getting much of their information about mortgages from sources they have a vested interest in the outcome. 70% report relying on their lender or broker to get information on mortgages, only 20% reliably on websites handle the 2% rely on housing counselors. certainly lenders and brokers can be valuable resources and they are but it is worth recognizing they have an important personal stake on selling the mortgage. what is best for them is not always best for the consumer end because lenders and brokers have different business models they make money in different ways to stay competitive. it is in the consumer's best interest to get as much information from several lenders or brokers before making the decision. people may well as i said put more time and effort into shopping for the house and also put things like smaller products such as appliances and televisions and they doing shopping for the right mortgage

but failure to look around can mean real money lost for consumers. on a conventional mortgage credit rating and a 20% down payment the range of potential interest rates can span 1/2% or more. for a borrower taking out a fixed-rate loan for $200,000 getting interest rate of 4% instead of 4.5% translates into $60 in savings per month. over the first five years the borrower would save $3,500 in mortgage payments. a lower interest-rate means the borrower would pay $1,400 in principal in the first five years even when making lower payments. by not shopping around consumers are often throwing good money down the drain. an important finding from our survey, consumers with more confidence in knowledge about mortgage process were more likely to shop. this is especially true for those who said they were familiar with available interest rates. almost twice as likely to shop

as those unfamiliar. clearly we need to instill more confidence in consumers and by and powering them we can help them make the most of this process. at the consumer bureau we were working to reduce the information gap between lenders who understand mortgage pricing inside out and consumers to whom the process can often feel like a mystery. time to start changing the culture of how people obtain their mortgages. from getting a mortgage as the impassive activity, and more active activity, they can't use the power to take control of their financial outcomes. to help consumers become more informed shoppers we are improving mortgage disclosures. our know before you lower forms of the new reality in the mortgage market, helping consumers understand options, choosing the best deal they can and avoiding costly surprises at the closing table. their consumer tested to be more

readily accessible and user-friendly which will ease the process before closing on a loan. and the booklet people received our new mortgage regulations limit various risky products mortgages can have different terms and features for consumers to understand. key components of a loan, lone title and interest rate. marone terms vary from 15 to 30 years, and types include conventional loans, interest rates can be fixed or adjustable and the up-front cost is very in across lenders even for the same consumer on loans with otherwise identical product features. shopping for mortgage can occur at different points on but process the consumers of televised to cast a wide net early on. the consumer may research different loan options. once the consumer knows more,

she made me with lenders and ask about the products they offer and the application process. once the consumer made an offer on but home she is ready to apply to different lenders. findings the best deal, comparing available offers base not only on interest rates but other costs or terms. nona home has great tools to help consumers throughout the home buying experience from the start of the process all the way to the closing table. these tools could be found on our web site at consumerfinance.gov/and runningahome which include the closing just check list in plain language. of consumers need help understanding the difference between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage our tools will assess if people need help deciding how much to borrow, or if they need help understanding the mortgage disclosure forms, we are working to add these and other tools over the course of this year to

give people of comprehensive and comprehensible picture of the entire home buying process. one feature contained in owning a home is the rate checker. 8 tool currently helps consumers understand what interest rates may be available to them. incorporate information from lenders internal rate sheets, to calculate what interest rate is available. and to the same type of execution lenders themselves have. borrower is looking to buy a single-family home can input their own information and find out what interest rates they will be offered from lenders in their area. by plugging in their credit score, location and information about the loan they can see the rate lenders are offering to borrow words like them. end potential race-based on average and a large downpayment.

those idealized versions of what you may be offered are misleading because not all consumers can't afford a large down payment. the result is many consumers go to menders and are quoted surprisingly different rates which leave them uncertain about whether the rates make sense. they require people to surrender their personal information, perhaps an e-mail address but much more. information that may be used for marketing and sales purposes. na home has no hidden agendas and the bureau does not retain any personal identifying information in stated enables more information they need to to get the best deals they can. our new set of tools offers an understanding how lowered rates translate into dollars saved. it can be hard to understand what an extra quarter or 1/2% interest amounts to in actual

dollars of our tool makes it easy to compare different interest rates and see how much that will cost. consumers go to plug in information to become more familiar with their options. understanding what race they expected the quoted in the market will help from see the value of shopping and gain more confidence about the crucial decisions they need to choose a mortgage. is worth noting from our survey findings that if consumers gain more confidence about the process they become more likely to shop for a mortgage in the first place. when consumers actively shopped for a mortgage they will be in a better position to make the best dishes about what is in many cases probably the single largest financial transaction of their lives. the tools contained in owning a home complete with a critical rate checker feature will help consumers do that more effectively. you can shop around for mortgages and one not hurt your

credit score. between 14 to 45 days, increasing overtime. they retreated as a single inquiry. other creditors realize you are only going to buy one home at a time in all likelihood. you can shop around and submit multiple applications to obtain multiple initial estimates. the effect on your credit will be the same be no matter how many lenders you consult. it is files that consumers meet with several lenders early on and ask lots of questions but we until they receive official loan offers to make their final selection. starting this summer these official loan offers will be communicated on know before you own estimate which will summarize the key loan terms and estimated loan costs and closing costs. we are making it possible for consumers to have conversations with lenders that are better informed and more productive. consumers have reliable estimate that can change only in limited

ways between the application stage and closing. this will build confidence and empower them to make the right decisions for themselves and their families. the central purpose of the consumer bureau is to assure that empowered consumers have access to markets that are fair transparent and competitive. it is good for consumers, the honest businesses and the american economy as a whole. our important new set of mortgage rules is creating a cleaner mortgage market. consumers are better protected from the pitfalls and booby traps that hurty people and lead to the financial crisis but when people fail to shop because they are intimidated by the process va put themselves in harm's way. one of our duties is to educate and empower them as much as we can. we are seeking to change the culture of how consumers obtain mortgages in this country by making it more possible and more fruitful for them to shop around. people should walk away from the mortgage process feeling secure

that they have made a sustained decisionure and they should be right to feel that way. we have seen too cleanly when consumer financial products are misunderstood or misused they can do real damage to people's live as. consumers need to make the best choices to fit their circumstances. nobody can do that for the man they need to be responsible for the joy leases they make. at the consumer bureau we are seeking and finding ways to get exactly where they want to go in improving their financial futures. please join us in supporting this exciting work. thank you.

>> thank you. one of the hottest topics in governance is how government can do more to help the middle class and all consumers. in recent days leaders of both parties he in d.c. have come out with proposals in that regard. you in the cfpb team have been doing that every day since you took the helm three years ago in ways large and small. it seems to me and owning a home initiative is a large way you are doing that. i thought we would start by my asking you a couple questions about that and other subjects and then open things up for

questions from the floor. tell us how you hope these new online and other tools are going to change the home buying process for consumers, what does it mean for their real lives and what else can the bureau do? i can push you a little to encourage, in former shopping by consumer is. >> the mortgage transaction for most people is the most important transaction of their lives, it is the most money they will ever spend, it has to do with achieving what we all consider a fundamental part of the american dream, home ownership. also studies of shown through this crisis and the variations in house prices around the country that sustainable homeownership remains the most important effect of when middle-class families can save money and build wealth for their future is because of the savings

component of making regular monthly mortgage payments. it is an important part of developing maintaining and improving the future for yourself and those who depend on you that is quite important. what we found in the report was consumers are intimidated by this process and when they're intimidated they did not engage and when they fail to engage they do not get the best outcomes for themselves and by making tools available that people can use that are fairly straightforward, understandable and accessible and a lot of this is complex and often deliberately so because it makes it difficult for consumers to find a way we can make it possible for consumers to understand our choices better way those choices more effectively and come to the best outcome for themselves. that is what we should want and that part of the work we are doing at the bureau not only in

the mortgage market but across all consumer finance household markets. >> understand a way and engage as consumers. what else can the bureau do along these lines to encourage even more informed shopping by consumers? what else can we look forward to? >> there are numerous things we are actively engaged in. one of the first set of tools was called paying for college. that is another transaction that comes along for families typically once or twice, maybe once in a generation, it is fair to say and is an expensive proposition for many families and to be in a better position to understand your joy leases, not just as a matter of liking the school will be like a house but think of the economic side of being able to make good

comparisons among shoelaces and to know what those choices mean in the long run, how much you will owe what your repayment rates may be and whether you can manage that. for people to think of that up front and regret later in that they didn't think about it more as many people have told us they do is another way in which this occurs. we are dealing with consumer education and engagement in many ways across the spectrum of the bureau. ask cfpb is one of the sets of information we continue to develop on our web site so consumers who have a new situation or something they don't understand, may be a debt collector is pursuing them and they don't know what their rights are what they're trying to understand their credit rating, credit report and credits work and don't know if they can improve that. all that information is available at consumerfinance.gov. people can get it in real time

and we think that helps people gain more confidence in their own shoelaces. >> one of those web tools, the consumer complaint aspect of cfpb.gov stirred up a little bit of a flat recently because the determination to include the so-called consumer narrative in those web forms. can you reflect for us a little bit about the brouhaha and the outcome. >> god forbid people should know what other people are actually saying in complaints about these companies and by the way they say those things on many web sites having nothing to do with the consumer bureau but let me just say the consumer complaint function, building a federal agency from scratch has been an

enormous challenge. we have not always done everything right and it takes real time and effort to do that and do our work but it has been a great challenge and a great opportunity. one of the pieces of that was congress said we had to have a consumer response function and to build it from scratch and we build in not having any sense of what the actual volume would be from the american public. that volume is enormous and growing. and the volume is increasing. and and it is not true statistics, when you have hundreds of thousands of individual instances it becomes in the aggregate real meaningful data and it is something we look

at the patterns of, prioritize our enforcement and supervision work and we push on industry and they're beginning to get in and stepping up to the plate and recognizing they should look at the patterns of what their customers tell us about themselves and respond accordingly, that is changing the culture at these institutions and changing life on the ground whether consumers are treated fairly. that is important and i'm proud of people at the bureau have been doing that work day in and day out from the beginning. >> before we turn it over to the audience for questions, when we announced the we were going to host you, we heard -- i heard personally from many other folks that i had worked with when we were doing our listening about the cfe -- cfpb in the white house. i heard both from folks in the business sector and the consumer

sector, i will ask you a follow-up, representing those points of you first on the consumer complaints business as they have on a number of things you have done, everything you have done, strong feelings about that, up what steps you make to make sure the complaint process was also fair to the financial industry and business. >> that is important to me personally and is important to the bureau. we are doing some things that create change in the industry. the change was needed. consumers need to be treated fairly and is sometimes difficult to know the exact parameters of what that means so we made efforts from the beginning and i think everybody would credit this, that we have consistently been very accessible and transparent about people speaking to us and express their concerns and we get it from across the spectrum and we think hard about that and take it into account to

formulate any kind of proposal or policy or response to concerns. on the consumer complaints there was a lot of concern initially vat we said we would have a public database. wasn't enough to have complaints and work them and resolve them and think about what that means in prioritizing our own work but we thought the public ought to have access to that and fink about it in terms of what it might mean about leases they would make and we thought it was important for industry to be able to see not only what they now see which there and customers tell them about their own product but what problems might exist in the industry and other providers and that is something they can learn from and avoid problems or see if they're doing better or worse and respond accordingly. that is important information. they didn't have access to that before. there are various sensitivities around changes that can be pressing on people and we want

to be thoughtful and responsive to that on our mortgage rules where we have several times gone back in and adjusted and revised various things in response to feedback and monitoring of the marketing changes occurring and that has been a hallmark to the bureau and will be over time. >> turning to the e-mails i received from the consumer activist requested and some are here but requested that i ask you, first of all they are complementary of the work they're doing and the mention the word transparency, the cfpb has been seen as the model agency on its government transparency. i give you some what of a hobby of mine and high marks on it and there's a strong feeling in the world of transparency advocates and experts that you have done a good job on.

no one agrees on everything meet here but only for brookings we agreed on that. under dodd-frank arbitration study provision it has taken a while to do the preliminary study. we are waiting on the final study and folks are curious, to the extent we talk about it you are in midstream and folks asked me to inquire about that, the reason for the time table and you can expect a final study and some rules. >> i want to be careful because you say it is midstream. the dodd-frank act had provisions about arbitration,

and the arbitration act acceptable alternative forum for resolving disputes to the courts and attitudes on that evolve over time. the dodd-frank act states congress legislated there would be no arbitration contracts. that is in there and the law of the land and went on to say other types of consumer finance contracts, arbitration was put on the plate as a live issue and it said specifically that the consumer bureau should conduct a study and issue a report to congress on various aspects of arbitration what it means, how it works what the consequences are, and based on what that report contains, consider what we do about arbitration and

consumer finance. it is progressing and wind it is complete issue the report to congress in the near future. we will be in a position to make judgments. i would not want to prejudge any of those steps until the report is complete and issued. >> with that, i will open the floor questions. let's see. and will start by calling on dan berger. >> whether the cfpb has any initiatives concerning mortgage servicing practices including

abuse of foreclosures, ini concerning insurance initiatives concerning insurance practices. and whether or not you have a view whether the federal government could stimulate refinancing of the mortgages, policy initiatives, and benefits on consumers and stimulus to the economy. >> the mortgage servicing, going all the way back to my days as a state and local offic concls in ohio. i served as state treasurer when the foreclosure crisis was beginning to break across the

midwest, indiana, michigan, and became a national phenomenon, when the robotsigning scandal ierv3 c1 the view. and the mortgage servicing particularly in a challenging environment is a difficult undertaking and i have not been satisfied with the performance of mortgage servicers lower has been improving in some respects. it is not problem for e. we have nranc measures in place. the bureau the consumer bureau has adopted nranc mortgage servicing rules that are fairly comprehensive and build on a lot of work that has been done by policymakers, they are understood and uniform, and banks and chartered institutions and others. that is an important level playing field, and supervisory effort which is very meaningful. they are uniform and we have real teeth behind those rules. we hpla enforcement activity, supervisory activity that is

ongoing and we will continue to police this market because many people have been badly hurt by the problem scenario and i have seen it in my community and communities across the country. as for refinancing of the underwater mortgages, you are more in the realm of programs the treasury department has worked on and developing them and to some extent we could jump on the private sector to do more rlevinancing. we have done some of that on mortgages and student loans. the nature of a student loan is you tay ac out the loan at a time in your life you are trying to get through school and are more of a risk. if you get through school and are a different place, you have the abili hp to refinance that alone at that point and bill's going fonitieard? a lot of people think you should and they're starting to step up and respond to this. the overhang of student lof than

debt in our society among young people who also happen to overln o first-time home buyers is significant and the domino effect on the econo3 c1 on are3 c1 pery large, in a meaningful negative that we need to think more about, the high cost of higher education and what it means for student loan burdens and how we service is abto problematic area we have been focused d?on. these are all pieces that matter lot to the future of this country and important grounds for us to consider how to do better in terms of publid wpolicy and execution. >> question? >> center for public integrity. you have spoken about the importance of mortgage leases, given those benefits that you see to pthat

it lead us to put time and levfort into understanding the market better and we should a white paper last year as you will recall, the survey how masuphopctured housing industry has evolved and how the market has evolve the espec conclly over the last decade or two. there are parts of this country where maneiactured housing looms very large as a portion of housing stock particularly rural areas and the more diffit llt terrain, appellations segments in southeastern ohio but there are many of these around the country. making sure people like treated fairly in terms of being able to

byou >> we have time for one more audience questioning. >> my name is taylor with the new england carefuing f i was haceing you could speak about first-time home buyers and housing market, how com aident you are in that aspect of it and whether you are satisfied with that growth. >> we have to go to the

backdrops. everybody agrees although they have anifferent accounts eedometimes with the causation here, that it is the housing and e cortgage mary act that broy ac and caused the financial crisis and when there is an element of the economy that causes s th as eedevere dislocations throughout the economy, it is almost inevitable that that area of the econo3 c1 on will be the slowest recovery and repair itself. the damage was so deep in the housing market that it takes longer to recover. that has been our experblence since the crisis going back to 2008-2009. we are talking six seven years the housing mary act has lacked the recovery in the economy. that also means that over time when they have tended demand and we are seeing signs of that among first-time home byou and home

buying have changed over time they build wealth by being a homeowner so the notion that you have significant segment of our young people who would miss that opportunity and miss the savings that would come with that, would be negative for the economy and negative for our society so i am concerned about that. people need to make good judgments about the possibility of home ownership and not shy away simply because they tend to be most focused on immediate results they saw in the recent past. it is a market that is recovering and i believe first time homeowners will begin to recover at greater pace but we don't know that for shore and we will be interested to see how it develops. >> i had hoped to do more from

the audience, but i think the questions are too hard. i promised your staff that i will get you out timely. i had one more question i wanted to pose to you. i will ask you to answer for us. you gave your maiden speech as cfpb director on your first date or thereabouts in 2012. we sit here now three years later. can you quickly tell us, looking back now over that three year period, was the biggest surprise has been, both pleasant and otherwise of those three years as you thought it might have unfolded and when you set your three years ago. >> there was a pleasant surprise i hoped would occur but wasn't entirely sure when i was confirmed by the senate, pretty

resounding vote in july of 2013 that was meaningful. what i would say about the processes i have encountered at the bureau there are two things i did not appreciate before i came. number one is we operate in a space that is crowded with other policymakers, congress is the primary policymaker in our country and that is appropriate that there are a number of agencies with different rules, we overlap to some degree, we have to work together effectively if we are going to do our jobs appropriately and that takes real-time and effort we have to put together. we have been landscape where we received that time and effort from our colleagues, but whether that is inevitably the case is not a given. the second thing i would say is i came to this job from the attorney general position in ohio which is an enforcement position. i was not that familiar with the regulatory side of things. it takes longer than i would have wanted or expected to work

through the thorough processes. these are complicated issues. there are tough questions today these other questions we deal with all day long everyday how to do enough but not too much, how to balance competing principles that are basic fundamental light consumer protection on one hand, access to credit on the accommodate take a lot of time and effort and require a lot of analysis and the like so things move more slowly than i would like but hopefully they come out better at the an end. >> it is tough to set up a new agency. not every new agency that has been set up has a happy story to tell. extremely successful three years you have enjoyed but we are very pleased to have you here today. i can tell from the many hands that were raised that we could have gone longer. i would like to invite you back

to come and talked with again and share your reflection. let me go back and thank you again and all those who worked on dodd-frank and continue to work on it the fact that an agency like this was created and established to look after the middle class in this country, the average consumer and to recognize that they make choices every day that affect their lives, some are difficult choices they don't fully understand some are choices they make all the time. they could be in a position to do that better and improve their lives financially, that is significant across the country and we recognize that as our mission and it is what motivates us and makes it a pleasure to go to work every day. thank you. >> thank you for the work and all your colleagues do. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] .. >> on monday, martin luther king jr. day, cornel west profiles african-american