Today, Financial Services Committee Republican Leader Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent letters to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra and the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray regarding the agencies’ oversight of the federal student loan programs.

 

The Members write: “You and your agency have evaded questions pursuant to congressional inquiries, instead colluding in the dark to advance policies that will result in a gross expansion of federal control over student loan programs. This is particularly frustrating given the CFPB has zero authority to address this issue.”

 

The Members continue: “FSA is responsible for the administration of the Department of Education’s (Department) federal student aid programs, which amount to over $100 billion annually in grants and loans designed to increase low-income students’ access to postsecondary education… However, under your leadership FSA has increasingly outsourced its responsibilities to other federal and state agencies.”

The Members also write: “While the CFPB and the Department previously shared two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) regarding information-sharing in connection to the oversight of federal student loans… the Department terminated those MOUs in September 2017. Despite the termination of the MOUs, recent actions by the CFPB signal the agency is once again expanding its unchecked authority over federal student loan servicers.”

 

 

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