During the COVID-19 Health Crisis, CFPB Should Focus on Protecting Consumers, Not Corrupt Task Force 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is plowing senselessly ahead with its project to weaken consumer protection laws despite the COVID-19 health crisis. Leading the charge will be Todd Zywicki, the Chairman of CFPB’s new Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law and active member of the Koch network. The country doesn’t need the CFPB pushing the Koch network’s ideological agenda right now, or at any time, for that matter.

Zywicki is not an advocate for consumers, but for corporations. At a time like this, CFPB should be pro-actively assisting consumers when we are wronged by financial institutions, including banks, payday lenders, and credit bureaus --  a role we need it to play now more than ever.

Perhaps most concerningly right now, Zywicki opposes government crackdowns on price gouging during national emergencies. Medical supplies, personal protective equipment, and even some basic goods are already scarce on store shelves across the country. If people like Zywicki are in charge during the COVID-19 crisis, we are in deep trouble. 

The CFPB ought to be focusing on its core mission of protecting consumers. Already, consumer advocates are criticizing its slow response to the crisis. And the CFPB director, Kathy Kraninger, hasn’t even responded to calls to stop all new regulation that is not related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zywicki is like a broken record when it comes to consumers, often placing private profit over the needs of the people. Zywicki had zero sympathy for the families who lost their homes to foreclosure after during the 2008 financial crisis, stating that borrowers "were not victims" of the banks. His role at the CFPB only compounds our fears for homeowners and renters during this most difficult economic time. 

His favoritism of banks over people also makes us fearful for how CFPB will prioritize worker protections over the interests of big business during the COVID19 health crisis. Zywicki served as a director of the Global Economics Group, which has clients that include Visa, Bank of America, and Citigroup. The program he runs at George Mason University also received donations from the Charles Koch Foundation, Discover Financial Services, the Electronic Payments Coalition, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Visa. 

The CFPB decision to trust the leadership of a Koch shill and move forward with its misguided task force  during a national health crisis is the latest example of the agency ignoring its mission to protect consumers. The Bureau must pause their industry-led project to slash consumer protections and instead do its job of protecting people, not corporations.