Let me start by thanking Senator Brown for inviting me to speak to you today about how our young people are seeking to finance their education and improve their future lives. I will provide a brief overview of some of the issues surrounding student loan debt and the costs of higher education, and I will […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the U.S. Department of Education announced more than $480 million in forgiveness for borrowers who took out Corinthian College’s high-cost private student loans. ECMC Group, the new owner of a number of Corinthian schools, will not operate a private student loan program for seven […]
Responsible colleges are on high alert to ensure that they endorse transparent financial products. … To improve this process, the Bureau is proposing a draft “Safe Student Account Scorecard.” The scorecard builds on prior work by the FDIC and is designed to help colleges evaluate the costs and benefits to students of a financial product based on information about its features and how it is marketed. We are seeking input on the scorecard, which highlights four key areas for schools to consider and assess.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its annual report on college credit card agreements, which shows a nearly 70 percent decline in the number of agreements since Congress passed new disclosure requirements in 2009. These findings highlight the trend of marketing partnerships between colleges and financial institutions shifting from credit cards toward other products such as debit and prepaid cards, which generally have fewer sunshine protections. The report also found that most colleges with credit card agreements do not make those agreements readily accessible to students and families.
CFPB Warns Borrowers About Companies Charging High Fees for Free Federal Loan Repayment Benefits WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action to put an end to two student “debt relief” scams that illegally tricked borrowers into paying upfront fees for federal loan benefits. The CFPB, in a joint filing with […]
Our efforts reflect concern about access to credit and do not reflect a one-sided perspective to maximize consumer protection or industry deterrence at all costs. There is such a thing as doing too little, and there is such a thing as doing too much. We are aiming instead at doing justice.
Bureau Seeks More than $500 Million In Relief For Borrowers of Corinthian’s Private Student Loans WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges, Inc. for its illegal predatory lending scheme. The Bureau alleges that Corinthian lured tens of thousands of students to take out private loans to […]
Chairman Hensarling, Ranking Member Waters, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today about the Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the nation’s first federal agency with the sole focus of protecting consumers in the financial marketplace. Financial products like mortgages, credit […]
My name is Rohit Chopra, and I serve as an Assistant Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), where I lead an office that focuses on issues facing students and young Americans. In 2011, I was also designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as the Student Loan Ombudsman within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new role established by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Thank you for having me here today. I am very pleased to be able to join so many experts in consumer finance, a field whose interdisciplinary nature incorporates many fascinating issues from economics and psychology and many other subjects. As the first Director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it seems to me that consumer finance is undeniably important. Just consider that in every macroeconomic model that exists today, consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of all economic activity. All of that activity requires practical and sustainable methods of financing.
