“We have an overarching goal here,” Mr. Cordray said in an interview in his office near the White House, “which is to restore trust in the consumer financial marketplace. I don’t think we are just a regulatory body or just an enforcement body.”

The mortgage market is at the top of the agenda because “it’s the market where consumers have the most at risk and they have the most at stake,” Mr. Cordray said. “I expect that the mortgage market in the fairly near term will look different in the sense that, first of all, it will be a clearer and more straightforward place for consumers, and second, it will be a more reliable market.”

This summer, the consumer bureau plans to propose rules that will address the biggest stumbling blocks buyers face. When shopping for a loan, consumers will get a more complete and understandable “good faith estimate” of the costs.

Before closing a sale, consumers will receive a single, revamped disclosure form of the terms — the interest rate that they will pay, how it could change over the course of the loan and how much cash is needed at closing. And mortgage servicers, the companies that collect the payments, will be required to provide clearer information, better service and options for a borrower facing foreclosure.

“If we do all of those things, from beginning to end, I think the mortgage process will work better,” Mr. Cordray said. “And that’s good for the economy.