CFPB, saving Illinois consumers from corporate wrongdoing, goes dark in Trump attack on federal agencies

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been kneecapped in the latest attack on a government institution by the Trump administration. The federal agency has helped curtail burdensome bank overdraft fees, enforced lending laws that protect military service members and helped nearly 23 million people get medical debt taken off their credit reports.

On Monday, the CFPB’s website displayed a notice on its home page saying, “404: Page not found,” and an image of an outlet with an unplugged cord.

Consumers could still access other pages for information on topics such as credit scores and mortgages, as well as search its database of 7.7 million consumer complaints.

Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. On Sunday, officials also said the bureau’s Washington, D.C., headquarters would be closed until Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Vought, who was confirmed last week to lead the OMB, was a key architect of Project 2025, which plans to dismantle federal agencies. He emailed CFPB employees to cease “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement,” which effectively puts an end to its consumer assistance and enforcement work.

Consumer groups have been bracing for a shutdown since Trump fired the CFPB director, Rohit Chopra, on Feb. 1.

Although the CFPB, the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been under threat for years, it has a robust record of helping consumers, including:

• Saving consumers more than $21 billion through monetary compensation, canceled debts and other relief. That includes its enforcement actions against Wells Fargo, which was hit with a record $3.7 billion fine in 2022 after it “repeatedly misapplied loan payments, wrongfully foreclosed on homes and illegally repossessed vehicles” and violated other consumer protection laws affecting more than 16 million consumer accounts.
• Spurring change to banks’ overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds policies projected to save consumers an estimated $6.1 billion each year.
• Enforcing the Military Lending Act, which offers consumer protection to active duty service members. The CFPB has obtained $363 million in monetary relief for active duty and retired military members through various actions, including six Military Lending Act enforcement actions.
• Helping pressure the credit reporting bureaus to remove medical debt from consumers’ profiles. Nearly 23 million Americans have gotten at least one medical debt removed, according to the bureau.

Eric Larson, a neuropsychologist in Wheaton, who helps patients rehabilitate after brain injuries, turned to CFPB for help in December.

Chase Bank, his bank for three decades, suddenly shut down his account with no explanation. Larson thinks it was triggered by a hacker’s attempt to access his account combined with an overzealous anti-fraud algorithm.

While bank officials were apologetic, Larson was told that Chase was shutting his account permanently and it would take up to 27 days to return all his money. That would’ve forced Larson to rely on family and friends for financial support for almost a month.

He filed a complaint with the CFPB, which immediately assigned a case number and contacted Chase on Larson’s behalf.

Within days, the bank changed its tune and cut him a check, he said.

Larson says the CFPB was able to get “breathing human beings” at the bank to look into the problem and help him.

“The role of the CFPB is a valuable one because it’s a check,” Larson said. “Suddenly they [bank officials] stepped up. That in itself, I think, is worthwhile. I’ll miss it.”

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, the ranking member on the House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, which deals with consumer protection issues, is among the Democrats alarmed at the CFPB’s shutdown. They plan to march to the CFPB offices in Washington Monday afternoon.

Schakowsky said it was hypocritical for billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk to target an agency that helps consumers with financial problems. On Friday, Musk had posted an emoji of a gravestone with the taunt, “CFPB RIP,” on his X platform.

Schakowsky responded on Bluesky saying, “How ironic that the richest man in the world is trying to shut down an agency that has returned $20 billion to more than 200 million Americans cheated by greedy corporations.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., posted Monday on X that it “leaves the door wide open to predatory practices and Wall Street’s bad actors.”

The bureau, which was created by Congress in 2011, can’t legally be closed without congressional action, but its new leaders can slow-walk or eliminate the work it does.