The entry of the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Office (CFPB) is seen during a demonstration on February 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty images
The Consumer Financial Protection Office was one of the early targets Trump administration attempts to considerably reduce public spending. Bureau's work was the first Suspended in early FebruaryAnd legal quarrels have since continued – which, according to experts, has created an uncertain future for many CFPB efforts to protect consumers.
A federal judge planned a two -day hearing, from Tuesday, in a case on the efforts of the Trump administration to dismantle the CFPB. In March, American district judge Amy Berman Jackson prevented the administration from dismissing 1,500 of the 1,700 office employeesand struck A stop working order targeting the office.
Recently published courts Include the declarations of the CFPB staff indicating that the shots will respect the agency's capacity to perform tasks, in particular supervise banksBy maintaining the consumer complaints database and providing monitoring and application of mortgage and credit laws.
The hearing aims to help determine the number of employees that the agency must achieve what it is required by law.
Mark Paoletta, acting legal director of the CFPB, said in a judicial file that the agency should be remunerated to around 200 people who can “fulfill its statutory functions and better align themselves with the priorities and the philosophy of management of the new leadership”.
CFPB could be “a very different animal” after the cuts
Trump administration attempts to hinder the CFPB Creation of uncertainty On the work of the agency for consumers and businesses.
“The biggest challenge for innovators in financial services is the lack of clarity concerning the regulatory structures in which they must respect and live,” said Phil Goldfeder, CEO of the American Fintech Council, a professional association based on standards.
The CFPB was created the day after the financial crisis to establish a single agency responsible for the application of consumer protection laws. He resumed the supervision of consumer products from other banking regulators.
These will not take the work that the CFPB had done; This “will simply not be done, or will be done much less,” said Ian Katz, CEO of Capital Alpha Partners, a political research and political forecasting company.
Supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after the director of the Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) (CFPB), Russell Vought, told all agency staff to stay away from the office and not work, outside the CFPB in Washington, United States, on February 10, 2025.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
In recent years, the CFPB has transferred the costs of the bankruptcy bank, regulates payment applications and resolve consumer complaints. Now many of these efforts have been canceled or left in doubt.
Under the Trump administration, the office also abandoned the proceedings it previously brought. This is in particular a case against national college student loans linked to Incorrect debt recovery practices Against borrowers of private student loans and prosecution against early alert services, Jpmorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo On Zelle's fraud.
“There is a risk that it could go wrong,” said Katz. “It is not as if they were taking a 20% reduction in staff or 15% and people say:” Well, we could lose a few things here and there, but basically, we will be fine. “It will be a very different animal and I think there is no avoidance.”
The CFPB did not respond to requests for comments.
Here is what experts expect what CFPB rules and programs could happen.
Cap on bank overdraft costs
Bank overdraft fees was to come into force in October 2025, but the congress is now overthrowing the rule. Analysts expect the banks to compete in maintaining low costs. “I don't think they will rush immediately to raise them because of this competitive aspect,” Katz said.
Payment on payment application
The CFPB had also decided to demand that non -banking companies offer financial services such as payments and portfolio applications Follow the same regulations as banks. This will no longer happen – legislators voted to turn the rule And President Donald Trump said he would sign it.
Consequently, “some payment applications will be supervised, and others will not do so,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services for the American consumption federation.
Zelle, which is a banking product, will always fall under banking regulations, he said, but fintech companies such as Paypal, Venmo and Block's Cash App, will be “able to escape this” surveillance.
Consumer complaint database
We also do not know how effective the CFPB will be to resolve consumption conflicts. The CFPB is required by law to maintain a complaint database and receives consumers to an estimate 25,000 complaints each week.
In 2023, the CFPB received more than 1.6 million consumer complaints, according to its Annual report.
Complaints are shared with companies for an answer, but consumer defenders are worried without a strong application behind it, the database will lose its effectiveness.
“If there is a complaint and this is received, it does not mean that there will be an answer, it will be potentially seated in the queue,” said Rust. “So, if you are a consumer, you thought you had what you should, to find someone to help find a remedy. But in fact, nothing happens.”
The attorney general of the state of 23 states have spoken against administration efforts to finance the office. In a judicial In February, they declared that the references of consumer complaints at the CFPB had been left in the limbo, that communications concerning application surveys are missing and direct requests from AG offices to the agency remained unanswered.
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