WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Rohit Chopra, Indian American director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who has been targeted by Republican lawmakers for putting restrictions on financial institutions in favor of consumers, has been fired.
Chopra received an email from the White House on Saturday, February 1 morning informing him of the firing. He confirmed his departure in a post on X Saturday.
“This letter confirms that my term as CFPB Director has concluded. I know the CFPB is ready to work with you and the next confirmed Director, and we have a great deal of energy to ensure continued success,” Chopra wrote.
Chopra was appointed in 2021 by former President Joe Biden to serve as director of the bureau that regulates financial agencies. He was often at loggerheads with the U.S. banking industry after pushing to drastically rein in practices around credit card late fees and overdraft fees, among many other efforts, CNBC reported.
Trade groups representing banks fought these regulations in court, fending off rules that would have saved Americans billions of dollars in fees but that the industry called poorly considered or unjustified.
Banking groups had expected Chopra to be fired as soon as Trump was inaugurated, but Chopra remained on for nearly two weeks into Trump’s second term, continuing to fire off releases and weighing in on hot-button topics, including whether banks unfairly closed accounts.
Chopra, whose term was scheduled to run for roughly another two years, said in the letter he tweeted Saturday that he saw a path for the next CFPB leader to enact “meaningful reforms,” including a possible cap on credit card interest rates.
The CFPB was created in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which was caused in part by banks’ irresponsible lending and securitization practices. But the agency has since been targeted by trade groups who unsuccessfully argued that the CFPB’s funding violated the U.S. Constitution, and more recently by conservative figures including X owner and Trump advisor Elon Musk, who has called for the elimination of the CFPB.
In his time at the CFPB, Chopra spearheaded controversial regulation limiting overdraft fees banks can charge as well as late fees credit card companies could collect from customers. Under Chopra’s leadership, the CFPB also finalized a rule making personal data more accessible so that it is easier to switch banks.
The agency was the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who began advocating for it in 2007 when she was a Harvard Law School professor.
Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, applauded Chopra for “holding Wall Street accountable for cheating hard-working families.”
Before heading the CFPB, Chopra served as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2018 to 2021, after being nominated by former President Donald Trump. At the FTC, he pushed for stricter penalties against repeat offenders, opposed no-money, no-fault fraud settlements, and worked to strengthen the “Made in USA” label and fair competition policies.
Chopra’s career in consumer protection dates back to his initial tenure at the CFPB from 2010 to 2015. In 2011, he was designated as the agency’s first student loan ombudsman by the Secretary of the Treasury, where he focused on student lending issues.
Before entering public service, Chopra worked at McKinsey & Company, specializing in financial services, healthcare, and consumer technology sectors. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.