Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank"), Chopra worked on the implementation team that resulted in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). At the CFPB, Chopra served as the agency's Student Loan Ombudsman and as the agency's assistant director.^[17] During his tenure, the agency sued for-profit colleges Corinthian Colleges^[18] and ITT Educational Services,^[19] both of which dissolved.

Chopra is a vocal critic of the mounting levels of student loan debt in the United States.^[20] In 2012, he released analysis revealing that outstanding student debt exceeded $1 trillion.^[21] Chopra co-authored a report with Holly Petraeus that uncovered a student loan overcharging scheme impacting members of the military.^[22] Chopra explained his focus on student loan policy to the Wall Street Journal, stating:

In my job, every day I get calls, emails, letters from people who are drowning in debt. I hear the panic in their voices as they worry about their financial future. They aren’t numbers on a spreadsheet. I want to help make things better for them.^[14]

Post-CFPB career

In 2016, Chopra joined the Department of Education as a senior advisor, where he worked under Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell.^[23] Later in 2016, Chopra was named by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as a member of her prepared presidential transition team, though her candidacy was ultimately unsuccessful.^[24]

Chopra later became a Senior Fellow at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a consumer advocacy group.^[15] In 2017, Chopra released a report showing that over 1 million Americans defaulted on a student loan in 2016.^[25][26]

Nomination

During the 2020 presidential election, Chopra was mentioned as a possible candidate for a Cabinet position in a Biden administration. Chopra was mentioned as a contender for the position of Secretary of Commerce by Politico^[32] and the New York Times,^[32] but was ultimately nominated to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).^[9] Alvaro Bedoya, the Director of the Center on Privacy and Technology, went onto be confirmed as Chopra's replacement at the FTC.^[33][34]

Chopra's nomination was praised by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who stated through her Twitter account that "I worked closely with Rohit [Chopra] to set up the CFPB and fight for America's students. It’s terrific that President-elect Biden picked Rohit to run the [CFPB]."^[35] Chopra was confirmed 50–48 on September 30, 2021.^[36] Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote on the Senate's motion to invoke cloture on Chopra's nomination.

Tenure

As CFPB director, Chopra serves as an ex officio member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).^[37] Since taking office, Chopra has scrutinized Big Tech companies' expansion into the payments sector. In one of his first acts in the position, Chopra ordered a probe into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and Block, Inc.-developed platform Square.^[38] As CFPB director, Chopra has scrutinized bank overdraft fees.^[39]

In October 2022, Chopra announced that the agency would begin data-sharing rulemaking on Section 1033 of the Dodd–Frank Act, which pertains to open banking.^[40] In October 2023, the CFPB formally released its Section 1033 proposal, which if implemented would require banks to give consumers their financial data free of charge. The rule would forbid companies with access to users' personal financial information from collecting the data for targeted advertising.^[41]

Controversies

Under Chopra's watch, the CFPB has been the subject of some controversies.

A lawsuit in 2022 by the American Bankers Association and six other trade groups claimed Chopra was acting in a matter exceeding the agency's legal authority^[42] which a WSJ investigation suggested was a mechanism to increase clout at the FTC and FDIC for the purpose of amassing power over businesses, banks, and consumers.^[43]

In 2023 the agency failed to protect consumer data resulting in a data breach wherein an employee transferred personal information for 256,000 consumers from forty-five financial institutions.^[44]

In January 2024, the agency settled a class action lawsuit brought by minority employees and women who alleged that they were discriminated against by the agency, which included being consistently paid less than their White male colleagues, being unfairly denied promotions, and facing retaliation for making discrimination complaints. As part of the settlement, the agency agreed to pay $6 million dollars towards a settlement fund. The agency did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. ^[45]

Under Chopra's leadership, the agency for the first time in its history failed to reach an agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 335, which has resulted in employees working without a contract since December 31, 2023.^[46] Agency employees are now the only federal workers who haven't received a raise or local cost-of-living increase in 2024, after President Biden authorized an average 5.2% pay raise for federal employees, the largest since the Carter administration.^[47] The dispute centers on raising the salary ranges (pay bands) and the salary cap for workers, which the agency has thus far refused to do, despite agreeing in December 2022 to include pay bands and salary cap increases in this round of negotiations and Chopra raising the pay cap for agency executives in December 2023, some of whom are now paid as much as $269,000 a year.^[48] By law, the Dodd-Frank Act provides that the agency has to maintain comparability as to compensation and benefits, not only with the Federal Reserve, but with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among others.^[49] The union maintains that raising pay bands and salary caps is essential for complying with the Act, since the Federal Reserve, OCC, and SEC raise these items annually and many already have substantially higher caps than the CFPB. On March 27, 2024, the National President of NTEU sent Chopra a letter, accusing him of avoiding all communication with union leadership, as negotiations drag on and remain stalled. ^[50]