The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is still impacting the mortgage industry, despite a lack of examinations or investigations and the threat of a mass firing. 

The regulator under Acting Director Russell Vought has continued to provide regulatory guidance to financial institutions, and even defended some actions put forth by the prior Chopra-led bureau. Richard Horn, co-managing partner of Garris Horn LLP and a former CFPB senior counsel, suggests the industry has an opportunity to see real regulatory reform from the rulemaker.

"They're not just out there trying to gut all the rules and have the consumer finance industry be the wild wild west again," he told National Mortgage News. "They're actually supporting some of the old rules in these proposals, which is just crazy to me. But they have a great regulation staff."

Those moves include recently defending a rule that opponents said would make certain lending more expensive; and quietly upholding a legal argument in a controversial redlining case. Still, Horn cautioned that the lack of regular activity could lead to an uneven lending field. 

National Mortgage News spoke with Horn this week about how the bureau is working a year into the Trump administration, and how its actions are affecting lenders. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.