NFHA Praises Biden’s Nomination of Rohit Chopra to Lead CFPB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 19, 2021

Contact: Izzy Woodruff | 202-898-1661 | IWoodruff@nationalfairhousing.org 

NFHA Praises Biden’s Nomination of Rohit Chopra to Lead CFPB

Washington, D.C. — Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), issued the following statement on President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Rohit Chopra to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

“We are thrilled at Joe Biden’s selection of Rohit Chopra, currently a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to serve at the helm of the CFPB.

“Rohit Chopra has spent his career boldly advocating for consumers. He helped launch the CFPB in 2011, a year after Dodd-Frank was passed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. Chopra has been particularly vocal in his criticism of soaring student loan debt in the U.S., a crisis that will only widen the racial wealth and homeownership gaps if left unchecked.

“Mr. Chopra is a forceful advocate of utilizing ‘Disparate Impact’ analysis to detect and root out discriminatory lending practices, particularly as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more widespread in the financial services sector. In May 2020, the FTC, on which he serves, charged an auto dealer for the very first time with racial discrimination causing a Disparate Impact on borrowers of color.

“When the Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) first proposed a new rule that would gut the Obama-era Disparate Impact tool, Rohit Chopra submitted a comment explaining how this could ‘create a major loophole in civil rights protections by encouraging both lenders and vendors to ignore discriminatory outcomes.’ 

“Unlike CFPB directors selected by Donald Trump, Mr. Chopra will steadfastly adhere to the agency’s founding mission of protecting consumers and effectively providing oversight of the country’s financial sector. We urge the Senate to quickly confirm this superb nominee so we can begin working with him to effectively enforce our country’s fair lending laws and empower consumers, particularly those that have been disproportionately impacted by past and current economic crises.”

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About The National Fair Housing Alliance

Founded in 1988, NFHA is a consortium of more than 200 private, nonprofit fair housing organizations and state and local civil rights agencies from throughout the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NFHA works to eliminate housing discrimination and ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through leadership, education, outreach, membership services, public policy initiatives, community development, advocacy, and enforcement.