Former CFPB head front-runner and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren announced her campaign against Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) earlier this week via a video blog. Check out the YouTube video below.

After getting overlooked as the CFPB director nominee, Elizabeth Warren is heading back to Cambridge.

Warren, who served both as a White House adviser and adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the CPFB, will return to her teaching job at Harvard, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. Treasury also confirmed that Raj Date will replace her as an adviser to Geithner, effective August 1.

“Professor Warren has done an extraordinary job standing up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in a statement. “Her efforts to simplify mortgage and credit card disclosures, protect military families from abusive and deceptive financial practices, and bring aboard top talent like Richard Cordray and Raj Date have built a strong foundation for the Bureau’s future success.”

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski sharply disagreed on Monday’s “Morning Joe” about President Obama’s handling of the Elizabeth Warren nomination.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Peggy Twohig wrote a blogpost today touting the launch of the CFPB, but more importantly the outreach that Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury Elizabeth Warren and Assistant Director for Bank Supervision Steve Antonakes sent out. The letters, signed by both Warren and Antonakes, were sent to depository institutions that are under the CFPB’s supervision with over $10 billion in assets and their depository affiliates.

“Our goal is to have an open and candid dialogue and a constructive relationship in which we can work together to carry out our respective responsibilities, correct any problems that arise, and help ensure that consumers have access to and can benefit from fair, transparent, and competitive markets for consumer financial products and services. We hope that you will keep the CFPB informed in a timely manner about developments and issues at your organization that relate to consumer financial protection matters,” the letter read.

According to the Nation, when asked on Monday whether she would consider making a run for the seat now occupied by Senator Scott Brown, Warren replied:

“I’ve been working 14 hours a day on trying to stand this…agency up, really for more than a year now…. It’s time for a little vacation for me. When I go home, I’ll do more thinking then. But I need to do that thinking not from Washington.”

The Treasury Department said today that on its opening day the agency’s Consumer Response Center began accepting credit card complaints on its new website, consumerfinance.gov.  The CFPB will also be sending introductory letters to the CEOs of the depository institutions – generally large banks and their bank affiliates – that are subject to CFPB supervision. These letters, which outline the agency’s approach to supervision and examination, mark the beginning of the CFPB’s regular communications with the institutions it supervises.  In addition, the CFPB’s Enforcement Team is ready to begin enforcing federal consumer financial laws, when necessary.

The Bureau said it would also refer distressed homeowners to housing counselors and, over the coming months, expand its operations to handle complaints about other consumer financial products.

“Two years ago, the consumer agency was just barely an idea. A year ago it became law. And this week, the CFPB will open its doors and begin to make a difference in the marketplace,” said Elizabeth Warren,s pecial advisor to the secretary of the Treasury on the CFPB. “This agency is ready to be a cop on the beat for American families – and I couldn’t be prouder.”

An interesting perspective coming from Senator Richard Shelby re: the president’s decision to go with a different CFPB director nominee.

Many on the left are disappointed that the president did not choose the Bureau’s most vocal advocate, Elizabeth Warren, who currently serves as an assistant to the president and adviser to the Treasury secretary. Republicans, on the other hand, are focused on the key issue: Regardless of who runs it, will the bureau be sufficiently accountable to the American people?

When discussing Obama’s unwillingness to listen to the GOP’s “proposed three commonsense reforms,” Shelby said this:

As a result, Mr. Cordray’s nomination is dead on arrival in the Senate and will remain so until these reasonable changes are made. The law allows the administration to delay the bureau’s start date for an additional six months. I encourage President Obama to exercise this option and come to the negotiating table.

It didn’t take long for Elizabeth Warren to get back on the PR trail. Shortly before President Obama officially announced the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the first director of the CFPB, Warren took to the Huffington Post to share her thoughts about the status of the soon-to-be agency. While she tried to remain optimistic about the future of the CFPB, Warren did acknowledge the many obstacles that still stand in the Bureau’s way:

There’s lots of good news, but make no mistake: this agency still has enemies in Washington, D.C. And they have a plan.

In May, forty-four Republican Senators wrote a letter saying that they will block anyone from serving as CFPB Director. Many of them don’t like the agency or the ideas that led to its creation. They lost that fight last summer in a straight-up vote, but they say they will use a filibuster over a Director nomination to undercut the agency. Without a Director, however, the agency’s authority over payday lenders, debt collectors and other non-bank financial companies can be challenged. The Republicans say that they will permit a Director only if the agency is amended to make it less independent and less likely to act.

CBS Moneywatch reporter Marlys Harris has  a bone to pick with Elizabeth Warren about her congressional hearing last Thursday. Harris is upset because she believes that Warren was too soft on payday lenders. In particular, Harris took contention with Warren saying that she had no intention of banning payday loans. Here’s what Harris had to say about how she would handle the payday industry (the “rotten meat” of the financial services market):

Regulating these monsters doesn’t make sense because payday lenders boo-hoo that if they can’t flip the loans or charge high fees, they’d go out of business. I say, that can’t happen fast enough. Even a credit card with a 40 percent APR would be a more merciful option for those desperate to borrow.

In addition to announcing Richard Cordray as nominee for CFPB head, the new consumer protection bureau also released its progress report.

CFSA couldn’t agree more with what Elizabeth Warren wrote in her blogpost that announced the progress report:

Americans are looking for an honest marketplace. They want to know the costs up-front, so that they’re not blindsided by hidden fees, interest rate changes, or payment shocks. A properly functioning market relies on consumers’ getting the information necessary to make the best decision for themselves and their families. Consumers have the power to drive markets, but only if they’re provided with the basic information that lets them choose products that meet their needs and reject those that do not.

To learn more about CFSA’s mission to promote strong consumer protections when using payday advances, click here.

CFSA BEST PRACTICE #1: FULL DISCLOSURE

A member will comply with the disclosure requirements of the state in which the payday advance office is located and with federal disclosure requirements including the Federal Truth in Lending Act. A contract between a member and the customer must fully outline the terms of the payday advance transaction. Members agree to disclose the cost of the service fee both as a dollar amount and as an annual percentage rate (“APR”). A member, in compliance with CFSA guidelines where they do not conflict with applicable federal, state or local requirements, will further ensure full disclosure by making rates clearly visible to customers before they enter into the transaction process.