WASHINGTON–The consumer watchdog group Allied Progress has launched a new website it said is aimed at helping the American public understand the motives and meet the key players behind what it calls the Trump Administration’s “anti-consumer, industry-friendly agenda.”
The website, CFPBWatch.org, features detailed profiles of top political appointees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau whose past, according to Allied Progress, includes work for industries the “agency oversees and right-wing extremists in Congress.”
The website will be regularly updated with new profiles and research, as well as the latest news on the Bureau’s giveaways to the financial industry at consumers’ expense, the organization said.
“Amid all the chaos and controversy in this administration, the Trump CFPB has maintained a laser-like focus on serving powerful financial interests that write big checks,” said Derek Martin, director of Allied Progress, in a statement. “As we speak, the agency is pushing new rules that would leave millions of people vulnerable to the payday loan debt trap, while subjecting millions more to unlimited harassment from debt collectors - changes that would have real consequences for hard-working Americans. And rather than go after predatory lenders and financial scammers, the agency is deliberately shortchanging cheated consumers on the restitution they deserve.”
Martin went on to question who is making decisions at the CFPB, pointing to a quote from Director Kathy Kraninger before a group of bankers recently that they “are really helping drive the agenda.”
‘Questionable Appointments’
Saying “consumer champions need not apply,” Allied Progress pointed to what it called “questionable appointments,” including:
- CFPB Policy Director for Research, Markets, and Regulations Tom B. Pahl, who Allied Progress said is a “corporate lawyer who represented several CFPB-regulated companies including consumer reporting agencies, debt collectors, debt buyers, and creditors.”
- CFPB Office of Innovation Director Paul Watkins, whom Allied Progress described as “a senior attorney for an anti-LGBTQ hate group and now has the power to exempt businesses from anti-discrimination laws.”
- CFPB Private Education Loan Ombudsman Robert G. Cameron, who Allied Progress said “previously worked as a senior attorney for a major student loan servicer while it battled class-action lawsuits for allegedly mistreating and deceiving student borrowers.”
- CFPB Chief of Staff Kristen Joy Sutton, who Allied Progress said “served for nearly a decade as senior aide to former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), known as one of the fiercest opponents of the CFPB and most useful tools of Wall Street.”