Consumer watchdog pleads with Trump to not let Americans get 'cheated' by newly protected banks

'You are a smart man, and I think we both know what is really happening here'

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray, seen here at the Treasury Department in Washington on October 2, 2014, urged Donald Trump to not let Americans 'get cheated out of their hard-earned money' ( REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

America’s top consumer protection watchdog sent Donald Trump an unusually personal letter exhorting him to preserve a legal tool for people who have been “cheated” by financial firms.

“Many people have told me I am wasting my time writing this letter”, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray wrote, “but this rule is all about protecting people who simply want to be able to take action together to right the wrongs done to them”.

Last week, the Senate voted narrowly to rescind a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that allows wronged customers to band together in class action lawsuits. It would have largely forbidden clauses, often buried in the fine print when people sign up for new credit cards or bank accounts, that require people to settle their issues out of court.

Vice President Mike Pence ultimately cast the deciding vote in favour of repeal after the Senate deadlocked 50-50. The banking industry lobbied for the change, arguing along with Republicans that the restriction mainly benefited trial lawyers, but Democrats in opposition lambasted the vote for putting the financial industry before consumers.

In a letter notable for its direct tone, Mr Cordray took up that argument with Mr Trump. It was an unconventional effort from a man who said that he had not yet met Mr Trump nearly a year into the President’s tenure, and it is a long shot: There has been little love lost between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Republicans, who have consistently denounced the Obama-era entity.

“This letter is not about charts or graphs or studies. Instead, it is simply a personal appeal to you”, Mr Cordray wrote. “When people are wronged or cheated”, he wrote. “They deserve the chance to pursue their legal rights."

Rather than chastise the President for his stated support of the repeal, Mr Cordray sought to appeal to Mr Trump’s self-image as a savvy businessman, reminding him that “over the course of your long career in business you often found it necessary to go to court when you thought you were treated unfairly”. Most Americans, Mr Cordray argued, couldn't afford that kind of remedy alone.

The letter appeals to Mr Trump’s sense of fairness, suggesting that “you really don't like to see American families…get cheated out of their hard-earned money and be left helpless to fight back”, and it ends with the tone of a confidante appealing to a politician who sees through spin.

“I know that some have made elaborate arguments to pretend like that is not what is happening,” Mr Cordray wrote. “But you are a smart man, and I think we both know what is really happening here”.