Allied Progress’ Year-in-Review: The Trump Administration Embraces the Shadiest Industries

December 17, 2019

Washington D.C. — For predatory lenders, pushy debt collectors, fly-by-night for-profit colleges, and greedy Wall Street banks, 2019 has been a banner year under the Trump administration. Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Education Department, Treasury Department and others unleashed a flurry of proposed rules gutting protections against some of the worst practices from industries with long track records of mistreating consumers and student borrowers. Rather than address issues holding Americans back from the middle class like the $1.6 trillion student loan debt crisis, the administration committed itself to helping major GOP donor industries like payday lenders take advantage of vulnerable communities. Consumer watchdog group Allied Progress looks back on some of the year’s lowlights, including the continued toleration — and even celebration — of bigoted views from top administration officials. Among the corruption and extremism Allied Progress helped expose:

• How the CFPB’s payday rulemaking process has been tainted by industry money, a Mulvaney-connected lobbyist, and phony public comments;
• CFPB official Paul Watkins’ ties to an anti-LGBT hate group;
• How a troubled for-profit college that Education Secretary DeVos saved is still breaking rules;
• Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s past writings excusing businesses from responsibly for workplace sexual harassment

“After giving corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas a giant tax break, this year the Trump administration focused on enriching industries that more openly exploit people,” said Derek Martin, Director of Allied Progress. “The President excels at distraction, so it’s important not to lose sight of the stack of executive branch rules being written for industry that would leave millions of consumers and student borrowers worse off. This was the year some of the most complained-about industries saw a return on their massive investment in lobbying and the campaigns for Trump and his backers in Congress.”

Allied Progress Presents Its 2019 Lowlights:

Trump CFPB Proposes Ending Key Consumer Protection Against Payday Debt Trap at the Request of Trump’s Payday Industry Donors: 

• Consumers Would Have Saved Over $6B a Year Starting Today, Then Trump Happened (August 20, 2019)

• Caught On Tape: Payday Lenders Openly Brag That Their Contributions Lead to Regulation Rollbacks (October 29, 2019)

• Payday Industry Lobbyist’s Close Relationship with Mulvaney Raises Questions of Improper Influence in CFPB’s Payday Rulemaking (November 21, 2019)

• Kraninger Will Soon Decide Between Another Giveaway to Predatory Lenders, or Protecting Consumers(December 9th, 2019)

• Payday Lenders Host High-Dollar Trump Fundraiser Featuring VP Mike Pence, The Latest ‘Thank You’ to Trump for Gutting Payday Protections (October 7, 2019)

• Allied Progress Mobile Billboard Shames ‘Trump’s Predatory Payday Party’ Outside Payday Lender Conference at Trump Doral Resort (March 27, 2019)

• Tainted Process: Allied Progress Finds CFPB Flooded with Thousands of Suspicious, Copycat Pro-Payday Loan Comments Backing Trump’s Proposal to Kill Protections From Predatory Industry Practices (May 14, 2019)

Trump CFPB Proposes Letting Debt Collectors Send Unlimited, Unsolicited Texts and Emails to Borrowers: 

• Allied Progress Launches Campaign Against the Trump-Kraninger CFPB Debt Collection Spam Plan (July 16, 2019)

• New Allied Progress Ad Follows the Money, Finds Over 2 Million Reasons Why Debt Collection Industry Getting the Trump Red Carpet Treatment (July 30, 2019)

• New Allied Progress Report Examines the Deconstruction of CFPB’s Debt Collection Rulemaking From the Cordray to Kraninger Era (September 17, 2019)

• Trump CFPB Point Man On Gutting Debt Collection Rules To Keynote Another Swanky Debt Industry Conference(November 8, 2019)

• Allied Progress Presents CFPB Director Kraninger With the Most Annoying Sound in the World: Endless Phone Dings and Buzzes (September 17, 2019)

• Allied Progress Analysis Finds At Least 1-in-7 CFPB Debt Rule Public Comments Came From Debt Industry Personnel (September 19, 2019)

Trump Administration Advances Rent-a-Bank Scheme:

• Trump CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger Voted to Let Predatory Lenders Violate State Interest Rate Caps (November 20, 2019) 

Trump Lets Big Banks Go Back to Same Risky Behavior That Caused the Financial Crisis:

• Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Must Answer For Removing Safeguards Against Another Financial Crisis (May 22, 2019)

• As Congress Holds Hearing on High-Risk Leveraged Lending Trend That Threatens Another Financial Crisis, OCC Head Joseph Otting Hasn’t Lifted a Finger To Contain It (June 4, 2019)

• As MegaBanks Post Massive Profits (Again), Everyday Americans Are Falling Behind (July 18, 2019)

• “It’s Not Just Wells Fargo”: Allied Progress Ad Slams Trump’s Leniency on Bad Bank Behavior (April 10, 2019)

Labor Department Taken Over by Conflicted Corporate Attorney: 

•  Trump Labor Pick Eugene Scalia Argued Companies Shouldn’t Necessarily Bear Legal Responsibility for Bosses Who Sexually Assault or Threaten Employees (July 25, 2019)
• Eugene Scalia Spent Career Fighting Against the Labor Department’s Mission To Protect Workers’ Safety, Wages, Retirements, and Rights (September 5, 2019)

• Eugene Scalia’s Corporate Client List Makes Him the Most Conflicted Labor Secretary Pick in Recent Memory(August 8, 2019)

• Allied Progress Launches Full Page Ads As Judge Rules DOL Secretary Acosta Broke Law (February 27, 2019)

• Allied Progress Launches New Ad Campaign Demanding Secretary Acosta’s Resignation (July 10, 2019)

DeVos Lets For-Profit Colleges and Loan Servicer Industries Flout the Rules: 

• Troubled For-Profit College Accreditor That DeVos Saved Still Flouting Rules (December 10, 2019)

• New Report: Secretary DeVos Stacked The Education Department With Execs From Shady For-Profit Colleges That Cheat Student Borrowers (July 11, 2019)

• New Report: DeVos Abandons Student Loan Borrowers After Servicers Spend Millions on Lobbying and Politics(September 10, 2019)

• DeVos Must Fire Aid Who Lied to Congress About Accreditation Scandal (October 24, 2019)

Kraninger Carries On Mulvaney’s Mission to Weaken the CFPB From Within:  

• A Year Later, Trump CFPB Director Kraninger Has Proven as Useful to Greedy Industries as Mulvaney (December 11, 2019)

• Only the Most Conflicted People: Kraninger Appoints Servicer Industry Insider to Be Next Student Loan Ombudsman (August 16, 2019)

• CFPB Director Kraninger Packed Over Half the Consumer Advisory Board with Financial Industry Insiders (October 15, 2019)

• Trump CFPB Director Finds Yet Another Way To Avoid Doing Her Job (September 18, 2019)

• As DHS Secretary Nielsen Exits After Shameful Tenure, CFPB Director Kraninger Also “Likely Was Deeply Involved” in Trump’s Despicable Family Separation Policy (April 8, 2019)

Exposing Extremism and Bigotry in the Trump Administration:

• New Report: CFPB Official Paul Watkins Worked for Anti-LGBT Hate Group, May Soon Have Power to Exempt Companies from Anti-Discrimination Laws (June 24, 2019)

• Trump’s HUD Gives Safe Harbor to Racist CFPB Official Eric Blankenstein (June 19, 2019)

• The Root: Allied Progress Uncovers Stephen Moore’s History of Racist Rhetoric (May 2, 2019)

Mulvaney Being Mulvaney:

• Allied Progress Letters to Chairs Cummings and Waters Encourage Investigation Into Whether Race Was Factor In Mulvaney-CFPB’s Anti-Fair Lending Efforts (August 2, 2019)
• When Mick Mulvaney Learned Of Racist Blogger on Trump CFPB Staff, He Gave Blankenstein a ‘High Five’ (July 30, 2019)

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