Rohit Chopra testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission on Feb. 14, 2018. Photo by Diego Radzinschi/National Law Journal
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The Federal Trade Commission on Monday unanimously supported a settlement with SoFi resolving allegations that the finance company exaggerated how much borrowers could save by refinancing their student loans through its services. But for at least one FTC member, Commissioner Rohit Chopra, something was missing: A fine.

The FTC has limited power to exact fines. It is often only when a company violates the terms of an earlier settlement that the FTC has the authority to come back and assess a civil penalty. Chopra, a former student loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, issued a statement with Monday's settlement calling for the FTC to collaborate with his former agency and state attorneys general to effectively piggyback on their authority to seek monetary penalties.

“Our proposed resolution does not require SoFi to pay any money whatsoever for this misconduct. Ideally, SoFi would pay civil penalties for violating the law. Due to limitations in the FTC's authority, the agency cannot seek civil penalties in matters like these. However, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state attorneys general would be able to seek penalties from SoFi under existing federal law,” Chopra said.