WASHINGTON — The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, has been waiting for a phone call, letter, email, text — anything, really — from the Trump administration that might say if he’s getting fired.
After all, Chopra is a Biden administration appointee. He’s an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of President Donald Trump’s favorite targets. Chopra has already packed up his office a few blocks from the White House. His picture no longer hangs in the lobby.
But as of Wednesday, Chopra remains one of the more important regulators from the Biden administration who’s still on the job as Trump cleans house. That’s according to a person familiar with Chopra’s situation who insisted on anonymity to describe his status. Of course, it was Trump who during his first term picked Chopra to be a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission.
For a president who took office with aggressive plans to reshape Washington, Trump seems not to have fully communicated what he wants from Chopra’s agency. Under his leadership, the bureau has tackled junk fees, limited overdraft penalties and removed medical debt from people’s credit ratings. His continued presence on the job may speak to how Trump’s desire to move quickly in taking control of the government can lead to some oversights, but also to the challenge of fully merging Trump’s populism with his pro-business calls to cut regulations.
Allison Preiss, a spokesperson for the CFPB, declined to comment on Chopra’s job status. White House officials did not respond to questions about his status.
As a candidate, Trump pledged to cap the interest charged on credit card debt and the bureau has privately done work on that issue should the president wish to implement his promise.
“While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” Trump said at a September rally. “We’re going to cap it at around 10%. We can’t let them make 25 and 30%.”
Under the law, Chopra serves a five-year term, which means he could stay on as the CFPB director. But he has publicly stated that he would leave his post if the president asked.
The CFPB under Chopra has courted controversy with major banks and other companies who view its actions as being too aggressive. JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said at an American Bankers Association conference that it was time to fight back against regulators, saying of Chopra, according to Yahoo News, “Rohit is a very smart guy who has one major flaw, which I told him personally, which is that you use your brains to justify what you already think.”
Trump has made easing government regulations one of his cornerstones for growth, meaning that he might need to choose between his vows to companies and his stated commitment to easing costs for working families.
The CFPB has several pending rules pertaining to restrictions on data brokers selling personal information such as Social Security numbers and phone numbers. It’s also seeking to ban contracts that could cause someone to lose access to financial services for making political statements. The CFPB, meanwhile, is considering legal action against Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company disclosed. It also in December published an order to supervise Google Payment Corp. as more financial transactions are going through people’s phones.
