On Jan. 31, 2025, President Donald Trump designated Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
“I look forward to working with the CFPB to advance President Trump’s agenda to lower costs for the American people and accelerate economic growth,” Bessent said in a statement.
Bessent was just sworn in as Secretary of the Treasury on Jan. 28.
News of the president dismissing Rohit Chopra as director of the CFPB came Feb. 1, and there was speculation as to what it would mean for actions taken by CFPB, particularly recently.
There was a flurry of activity at CFPB during the wind-down of President Joe Biden’s time in the Oval Office, for example, including a final rule banning medical debt from credit reporting and a lawsuit accusing Rocket Homes and others of a "kickback and steering" scheme. It seemed some of those action items could potentially be put on pause.
Or, on the other hand, would it be business as usual, to continue the current CFPB trajectory, just under different leadership?
Peter Idziak, senior associate at mortgage law firm Polunsky Beitel Green, told NMP, "Although Chopra recently attempted to highlight the two consumer financial protection issues on which he and President Trump agreed — debanking and credit card interest rate limits — it was always clear his days as Director were numbered.”
“The only surprise in Chopra’s firing was that it took Trump almost two weeks to do so,” Idziak added.
He noted there had been talk in Washington that the Trump administration was waiting until they had a nominee or someone favorable who could serve as acting director before firing Chopra.
“It’s not entirely clear why Trump decided to fire Chopra,” Idziak said. “I’d expect Scott Bessent’s appointment as Acting Director of the CFPB to shift the Bureau’s focus away from what the industry felt was a heavy-handed and adversarial approach under Chopra to a more constructive and common-sense relationship with the financial firms the Bureau regulates."
"Bessent has recognized that the CFPB was statutorily created by Congress, so I don’t believe he will seek to unilaterally 'delete' the Bureau, as Elon Musk has previously called for," Idziak continued. "But I expect he will move quickly to rescind several rules passed under Chopra that have proven costly to the industry and likely resulted in higher costs for consumers.”
Reporting by Bloomberg Law indicates that Bessent has "ordered the CFPB to stop all rulemaking, communications, litigation, and other activities," per a Monday email to CFPB staff obtained by the news outlet.
"Director Chopra’s departure marks a pivotal moment for the CFPB and its regulatory approach," noted Ian P. Moloney, senior vice president and head of policy and regulatory affairs at the American Fintech Council. "Under his leadership, the Bureau pursued exceptionally proactive rulemaking and enforcement strategies that, while aimed at consumer protection, frequently lacked meaningful industry engagement and clarity."
"As a result, innovative banks and fintech companies did not have proper 'rules of the road,' often stifling responsible innovation," Moloney commented.
"It’s clear the Trump Administration has a different approach to regulation in financial services," Moloney contended. "With this new leadership and regulatory approach, we will likely see a recalibration of the CFPB’s recent enforcement and rulemaking activities — both in cadence and substance — including a review of actions taken by the Bureau in the recent past to ensure they comport with the administration’s platform."
