President-elect Biden appoints consumer advocate Rohit Chopra to top position

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President-elect Joe Biden announced a slew of key administration positions among them an Indian-American.

Known to have worked in the area of student loans, Rohit Chopra, currently a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, has been named director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

At the FTC, he has actively advocated to promote fair, competitive markets that protect families and honest businesses from abuses, said the press release from the Biden-Harris Transition Team.

Commissioner Chopra was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2018.

At the FTC, he is credited with pushing for aggressive remedies against lawbreaking companies, especially repeat offenders, the press release said.

He has worked with state and international law enforcement partners to increase scrutiny of big tech firms that may be posing risks to privacy, national security, and fair competition, it added.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, congratulated Chopra via Twitter Jan. 17, 2021, saying, “I look forward to working together 2 rebuild @CsFPB, which once was & must again be a beacon of consumer protection. Together, we will safeguard against unfair practices, while expanding services to underbanked communities.”

Chopra held an earlier position at the CFPB, where he was  Assistant Director and led the agency’s efforts on student loans.

In 2011, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed him to serve as the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman, a new position established in the financial reform law. He also served as a Special Advisor at the U.S. Department of Education.

“In these roles, Chopra led efforts to spur competition in the student loan financing market, develop new tools for students and student loan borrowers to make smarter decisions, and secure hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds for borrowers victimized by unlawful conduct by loan servicers, debt collectors, and for-profit college chains,” the press release said.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.