But since taking office in late November 2016, Mulvaney has moved from one controversy to the next. Just last week, he generated several in a single speech. In that way, he is like his boss, President Trump, who lurches from crisis to crisis. And like Trump, there's little evidence that Mulvaney is worried about the dust he kicks up.
Yet all press is not necessarily good press, and Mulvaney's most recent actions are likely to haunt him. At the very least, he's provided Democrats with more ammunition in their battle against him.
Following is a look at where Mulvaney has gotten into trouble.
Pay to play?
"If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you,” he said. “If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception — regardless of the financial contributions.”
To those in the room, the comments appeared to be a joke, part of Mulvaney's larger point that the best way to lobby Congress isn't actually money, but galvanizing people in local districts. But the comments were not seen that way by the media at large.
Instead, they were seen as proof that Washington is a "pay to play" town. Many seized on them to argue that Mulvaney acknowledged his own corruption, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, calling on Mulvaney to resign.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.,
Whatever Mulvaney's intent, the comments were an unforced error on his part, providing his critics with a new line of attack.
What's in a name?
The name change
Mulvaney has gone so far as to request the Associated Press change its stylebook to reflect the new name. Banking groups, meanwhile, have taken up the call, with the Consumer Bankers Association issuing a press release on Friday referring to the BCFP.
Dropping public complaints
Mulvaney noted that by law, the CFPB is required to keep a complaint database. But that does not mean it needs to be freely available to others. “I don’t see anything in here that I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government," he said.
It's no surprise that the news drew rebukes from consumer groups, which argued it would cut off a way to keep firms honest, and praise from banking groups, which have long said that publishing unverified narratives was tantamount to libel.
Reopening payday lending rule
Mulvaney insisted again last week that he was not involved in the decision, but since he took office, the CFPB has dropped several suits into payday lenders, signaling a more tolerant view of such companies,
Most important, Mulvaney has pulled back the CFPB's rule, finalized in October of last year, that would rein in small-dollar loans. He delayed implementation of the rule, promising to take a second look at its requirements.
Data collection halt
The move
The CFPB began collecting data again a few weeks later, Mulvaney told Congress two weeks ago. The response
"Government agencies all over the country have security problems, but it's not a viable option for most agencies to stop collecting data," said Kirk Nahra, a partner at Wiley Rein. "I can't imagine the Department of Health and Human Services saying we had a security breach last week, so we're going to stop Medicare."
Fair-lending office
Previously, the fair-lending office was seen as an equal division alongside supervision and enforcement. It is now part of the office that handles internal agency concerns about employees.
Broad review
In a series of proposals, the agency has asked for comment on virtually every aspect of the agency's activities. Mulvaney said it makes sense for a new director to reassess the bureau's activities. But critics see it as a way for Mulvaney to take input selectively in order to reduce the agency's authority in a range of ways.
Dialing back on abusive
In the CFPB's five-year strategic plan issued in 2013, the bureau's director at the time, Richard Cordray, featured such power prominently in the "vision statement," saying the agency wants to ensure no company could "build a business model around unfair, deceptive of abusive practices."
But the agency's
Zero money for budget
Mulvaney said the agency didn't need the money to operate, since it had built up $177 million in reserve. Those funds had been set aside by Cordray to use in case of emergency, but Mulvaney didn't see the point.
Like many of his other actions, this was seen by critics as a way to reduce the CFPB's ability to supervise and pursue firms.
His leadership of the bureau
Mulvaney was appointed by President Trump over Thanksgiving weekend after Cordray named Leandra English as deputy director and abruptly resigned. Cordray's maneuver appeared designed to ensure that English would lead the bureau as acting director while Trump nominated a permanent successor. Cordray and his supporters pointed to language in the Dodd-Frank Act that they said proved the deputy director should be in charge, and that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which gives a president broad authority to appoint acting directors of agencies, did not apply.
The battle