It's yours, you paid for it. They're breaking it.

What's happening to the CFPB should have you steaming.

I entered the working world in 2009. Though I had jobs stretching back years before, that spring, I graduated from college, and like many others around my age, was looking for a way to kickstart a career. I didn’t have much direction, but I wanted to do something. I was happy, at the time, to see where the currents took me.

But the universe had other plans. As many of you may recall, 2009 was not an ideal time to do…anything, really. Except buy stocks. The financial crisis had caused the Great Recession, and we were all doing our best to get by. The Obama administration had just come into office, and Democrats had big majorities in Congress. 

So, they passed a whole bunch of Wall Street reforms, including the Dodd-Frank legislation. Part of that was the creation of a new government agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. It’s job? Exactly what it sounds like: Protect consumers from financial malpractice, scams, and the like.

Naturally, banks and other financial institutions weren’t and haven’t been big fans. The CFPB has done a lot of things that have worked to the benefit of ordinary people, too, such as capping certain types of fees that banks can charge, and more.

But the CFPB is one of many agencies and programs that is being targeted by the Trump administration. Interestingly, he more or less left it alone during his first go-around in office. This time, however, it’s being strangled, defanged, and left to wither. 

I wrote a story about it a couple of weeks ago, and have had the opportunity to speak with several experts about it. They’re…perplexed. The CFPB is a prime example of a government agency that works more or less how it should, and it brings in more money than it spends. Since it was created around 15 years ago, it’s clawed back $21 billion for consumers, and it costs less than $1 billion annually to administer.

Even so, Trump put a new guy in charge: Acting director Russell Vought, who is also serving as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was confirmed to his role along a party-line vote, so he was far from a consensus candidate. He is, so far, delivering for Trump’s people: He’s fired or is in the process of firing pretty much everyone, is dropping ongoing lawsuits against companies for financial wrongdoing, and even closed the CFPB’s headquarters. 

One source told me that Trump—or, Trump’s people, because I really doubt Trump himself has any idea what the CFPB is or what it does—was persuaded to go after the CFPB early in his second term by some of his friends or “friends” in the financial industry. Under the Biden administration, the source says that the CFPB was fairly aggressive. And it was. Here are some examples: 

• Slash credit card late fees: A year ago, the CFPB announced a rule capping late fees on credit cards at $8 for some credit card companies, which was expected to save consumers more than $14 billion per year.

• Capped overdraft fees: The CFPB capped most bank overdraft fees at $5 in December 2024. This move aimed to save consumers around $5 billion annually (if it sticks).

• Removed medical debt from credit reports: The CFPB targeted old medical debt on credit reports, aiming to reduce the financial burden on consumers.

• Generally stuck it to the man: The CFPB pursued aggressive legal action against financial institutions accused of wrongdoing, including a lawsuit against Capital One for allegedly misleading customers about savings account opportunities.

These are just a few examples. There are many more. But overall, the consensus was that Biden’s CFPB overstepped. It took things a bit too far. And now, it needs to pay. So, Trump’s people are tearing it apart. 

Why does this chap my hide so much? Let’s be real: Pretty much everything that’s happened over the past six months has really chapped my hide, but this? I suppose it all stems from the fact that I know exactly when and why the CFPB was created, and have closely watched what it’s done over the past decade and a half. I know damn well that it’s made a difference, and that it’s a fairly good example of good governance—lord knows we’re short on those.

But here’s the other thing: By dismantling the CFPB, the Trump administration is actively stealing from the American people. It’s an agency that was created by Congress, and paid for by the taxpayers. So, we’ve all paid for it. It exists as a matter of legality. And they’re trying to take it away.

Again: It’s yours. You paid for it. You’re entitled to it, by law. And they’re taking a baseball bat to the entire thing, for no apparent gain. It actively hurts the American public, but they’re doing it anyway. There’s truly no excuse for it.

I know, I know. The same could be said about many other things that are going on right now. But as I said, this is one that strikes my tiny little heart particularly hard. 
With all of this in mind, it’s important to know that the CFPB, since it exists as a matter of legality, isn’t completely going away. At least not yet (they could try, I suppose). But what they’re doing instead is neutering it, and will likely allow it to continue to exist as a zombified entity. Like a shell company, in some ways. There is still a lot of CFPB legislation and proposals in the air. There are rules that it has put into place. Those aren’t necessarily going away immediately, either. We’ll need to wait and see what happens.

But I do want you all to think about what’s happening, whether it’s to the CFPB, or otherwise. I’ll say it again: You paid for it, and are entitled to the protections that agencies like the CFPB provide. You’re being deprived of those protections because of craven cronyists who aren’t even pretending to have your best interests in mind.

It really grinds my gears, let me tell ya.

Remember: You can reach me at sammbecker@gmail.com with your thoughts, insults, or anything else.

Stay vigilant, friends!