MCA Skeptic Rohit Chopra Confirmed by Senate to Head CFPB

More than eight months after deBanked announced that FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra would be the next head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, his appointment has finally been confirmed by the Senate.

The confirmation of Chopra is notable given the agency’s objectives to collect data from small business finance companies and the fact that Chopra himself has been very vocal about merchant cash advances in particular.

One year ago, in his capacity as an FTC commissioner, he referred to the industry as “opaque” with “pay-day style” products whose structure “may be a sham.”

In an interview with NBC around the same time, he used stronger language, saying that he was “looking for a systemic solution that makes sure they can all be wiped out before they do more damage.”

Chopra knows his way around the CFPB. He worked for the agency when it first started in 2010 and was there for five years as the Assistant Director & Student Loan Ombudsman. He later moved to the FTC as a commissioner and now returns back at the CFPB in the director’s seat.