Trump administration’s top official responsible for protecting student loan borrowers has tendered his resignation over his differences with the federal government.
Seth Frotman, an assistant director and student loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, wrote the letter to Director Mick Mulvaney accusing the agency of siding with corporate interests instead of caring for students.
“Ten months under your leadership, it has become clear that consumers no longer have a strong, Independent consumer bureau on their side,” Frotman wrote.
He has alleged Mulvaney of using the bureau to serve the interest of corporates by abandoning the “very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting.”
“When new evidence came to light showing that the nation’s largest banks were ripping off students on campuses across the country by saddling them with legally dubious account fees, bureau leadership suppressed the publication of a report prepared by bureau staff,” he wrote.
While attacking the Trump administration, Frotman said, “Bureau has made its priorities clear- it will protect the misguided goals of the Trump administration to the detriment of student loan borrowers.”
He also said that in the current environment the American dream was under siege.
“The damage you (Mulvaney) have done to the Bureau betrays these families and sacrifices the financial future of millions of Americans in communities across the countries,” Frotman stated.
The bureau has declined to comment on the issue and thanked Frotman for his service.
“The Bureau does not comment on specific personnel matters. We hope that all of our departing employees find fulfillment in other pursuits and we thank them for their service,” the bureau told NPR.