STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President-elect Trump plans changes throughout the federal government. He's staffing his administration with aides who consider it wrong that Congress gave some federal agencies a measure of independence from the president, and that raises questions about what happens to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Congress established the CFPB after the Great Recession to write and enforce rules for the financial industry. In President Trump's first term, the CFPB ensured millions of dollars reached consumers who had been misled by financial institutions. This very week, the agency under President Biden announced medical debt will not affect credit scores anymore. Christine Chen Zinner is a senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, a nonpartisan group that advocates for stricter regulation of Wall Street. She spoke with A Martínez about what else the agency has done.
CHRISTINE CHEN ZINNER: Last month, the CFPB finalized a rule to lower these incredibly outrageous overdraft fees from around $35 per overdraft fee down to $5 per overage. Earlier, they slashed credit card late fees that were as high as $41 down to $8 per late fee. Unfortunately, while the Biden-appointed regulators have generally been pretty aggressive on behalf of consumers, Wall Street and its allies have really exploited Trump's transformation of the judiciary - particularly, we've noticed, in the 5th Circuit, which includes courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. And quite a few consumer protection regulations were immediately challenged. There was also an effort to target discriminatory lending. That was also challenged in the 5th Circuit. And then in December, within hours of the overdraft fee rule to reduce overdraft fees, financial institutions immediately challenged the rule in Mississippi.
A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: Looking back, Christine, on Trump's first term, what specific things did he do to try and ding this organization?
CHEN ZINNER: Trump's first term was about driving Wall Street's lobby priorities and agenda, not really about protecting consumers. One of the things that happened was director Kathy Kraninger gutted crucial rules that were set to protect consumers from predatory payday and car title loans. And without these kind of guardrails, borrowers can be trapped into a cycle of never-ending debt. Director Kraninger also relaxed financial institution reporting requirements. She also eased mortgage disclosure rules and rules around credit card disclosures. And the CFPB at the time waived rules on prepaid cards that were supposed to speed pandemic relief, but which people were later nickel-and-dimed with lots of junk fees just to access their payments or check balances.
MARTÍNEZ: So a new administration is almost upon us. What might change with this new administration? And also wondering, too, considering how close Elon Musk is to Donald Trump's ear, how that might change things.
CHEN ZINNER: Despite lots of attempts to dismantle this agency, A, the structure of the CFPB can come through a Trump administration intact, as it has before. This means having a single director with a secure funding stream, and this was validated by the Roberts Supreme Court. It would really require big bipartisan votes in the Senate to change that.
That said, the overall atmosphere right now isn't great, with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy hating on the CFPB and tweeting. And there's nothing stopping Trump and the Republican Party from installing a director who just wants to tear the agency down from the inside. However, I will say Trump ran as a populist. At one point, he even proposed capping credit card interest rates. So I think the Trump administration really has a decision to make about whether any of the populist rhetoric that came out of their campaign is meaningful or just a cover to let Wall Street take control of the CFPB.
MARTÍNEZ: Christine Chen Zinner is senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, a nonpartisan coalition focused on financial accountability. Christine, thanks.
CHEN ZINNER: Thank you so much, A. It was great chatting.
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