Washington, D.C. — Until recently, Americans could turn to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency whose primary mission is to police unfair, deceptive, and abusive financial practices by banks and other corporations. Yet the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are carrying out their plan to take away those consumer protections, and a key step in that plan is eliminating the CFPB.
A new Center for American Progress column poses three questions that consumers and policymakers alike should be asking about everyday Americans’ financial security:
- Without a strong CFPB, who will watch out for consumers and fight on their behalf for relief from predatory financial harms? Currently, there are nearly half a million unresolved consumer complaints as many of the CFPB’s functions remain paused because of the Trump’s administration and DOGE’s actions to lay off staff, shutter offices, and halt ongoing work activities.
- What are the impacts of the Trump administration’s attempt to gut consumer financial protections? The Trump administration’s CFPB paused finalization of 38 pending enforcement cases against banks and other corporations that would have held them accountable for allegedly pushing borrowers into costly mobile home loans and allegedly illegally collecting on loans student borrowers no longer owned, as well as other attempts to scam consumers. Meanwhile, Musk’s platform X, which may launch digital payments, stands to gain from dismantling guardrails that protect consumers’ data.
- Who stands to benefit from increasing bank fees? Last year, the CFPB finalized a rule that would potentially save Americans $10 billion in credit card late fees and $5 billion in overdraft fees annually. Facing pushback from the banking industry, these rules may never go into effect, and Americans will miss out on billions of dollars in savings.
“Americans can’t afford for the Trump administration and DOGE to gamble with their financial well-being,” said Alexandra Thornton, senior director of financial regulation at CAP. “Yet at every opportunity, the Trump administration has taken steps to dismantle the CFPB, backing corporations over protecting Americans’ financial safety and stability.”
“The CFPB’s job from its founding was simple: Protect consumers from banks and corporations’ schemes that threaten people’s financial security,” said Lilith Fellowes-Granda, associate director of financial regulation at the Center for American Progress. “Dismantling this agency that has saved Americans billions of dollars every year makes it crystal clear that the Trump administration stands with corporations, not everyday Americans.”
Read the column: “The Trump Administration Is Hurting Consumers’ Wallets by Kneecapping the CFPB” by Lilith Fellowes-Granda and Alexandra Thornton
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sarah Nadeau at [email protected].