CFPB Nominee Likely to Face Stiff Questioning, as Administration Signals Shift
Credit union leaders should expect some changes as confirmation hearings begin for a possible new head of the CFPB.
As the CFPB prepares to make a 180-degree shift from the Trump Administration, Rohit Chopra, President Biden’s choice to head the agency, is likely to face stiff questioning during his confirmation before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday.
The hearing comes as a consumer group, PIRG, released a new report Monday that showed that, as the coronavirus crisis raged, the CFPB faced a record number of consumer complaints in 2020.
In written testimony prepared for Tuesday’s hearing, Chopra said consumer issues are likely to have a large impact on the economic recovery.
“Consumers continue to discover serious errors on their credit reports or feel forced to make payments to debt collectors on bills they already paid or never owed to begin with, including for medical treatment related to COVID-19,” Chopra wrote. “Many of these longstanding, pervasive problems will make it more difficult for our country to sustain a full recovery.”
Congress created the CFPB as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, following the last economic crisis. During the Obama Administration, then-Director Richard Cordray adopted a strict regulatory regime. Chopra worked for Cordray at the agency.
When President Trump was elected, the agency became much more friendly toward business.
Chopra, who currently serves on the Federal Trade Commission, is expected to return the agency to a regulatory regime similar to Cordray’s.
And the battle lines already are forming.
“Rohit Chopra is the kind of bold and experienced person we need to serve as the next Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said after a meeting with Chopra last month. “During our meeting, we discussed his plans to rebuild the CFPB after the Trump Administration weakened the agency, as well the agency’s plans to protect consumers – and in particular, homeowners – during and after the pandemic.”
And although he will not have a role in the confirmation process, House Financial Service Committee ranking Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was blunt in his criticism of Biden’s choice.
“This is proof that the Biden team is pandering to members of the far-left who want to weaponize the CFPB to go after financial services companies they simply don’t like,” McHenry said. “Mr. Chopra has made it clear his agenda includes limiting consumer choice, driving up cost of credit for everyone through restrictive policies, and hamstringing job creators through overregulation. If the Biden Administration is looking to foster common ground between Republicans and Democrats, Mr. Chopra is the wrong pick.”
Meanwhile, PIRG issued a report Monday that the group said demonstrated how difficult Chopra’s task will be.
The group said an analysis of the CFPB’s complaint database showed that in 2020, there we 444,551 complaints filed with the bureau, far more than the 277,366 filed in 2019.