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One year after the Trump administration assumed control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency has dramatically scaled back its enforcement and regulatory activities, a retreat that consumer advocates and Democrats claim has cost Americans at least $19 billion in financial relief.
According to a report released Monday by Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office, the CFPB under Trump’s leadership has abandoned major consumer protections, stalled investigations, and dismissed numerous lawsuits against financial institutions. The report was provided to The Associated Press ahead of its public release.
“Trump’s attempt to sideline the CFPB has cost families billions of dollars over the last year alone,” said Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and one of the bureau’s staunchest defenders in Congress.
The administration gained control of the CFPB in February 2025 after Rohit Chopra, the bureau’s director under President Joe Biden, resigned. White House budget director Russell Vought stepped in as acting director, initiating a period of significant operational changes. Since then, few new investigations have been launched, many employees have reportedly been ordered to cease work, and several pending enforcement actions against financial companies have been dropped.
In April, the White House announced plans to reduce the Bureau’s workforce from 1,689 positions to just 207, though this move has been temporarily blocked by the courts. Even if the employees’ union succeeds in its lawsuit against Vought, recent congressional budget cuts to the agency—approximately halving its funding through Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—mean many employees will likely lose their jobs once all litigation concludes.
“The CFPB may still be standing, but it’s essentially on life support,” said Chuck Bell, advocacy program director at Consumer Reports, which released its own analysis Monday reaching similar conclusions to Warren’s office.
The CFPB did not respond to requests for comment on these findings.
The report details several specific regulatory actions that would have provided financial relief to consumers but were abandoned or overturned. One such measure was a limit on overdraft fees finalized by the Biden administration in 2024 but later overturned by the Republican-led Congress. According to the Bureau’s previous estimates, this regulation would have saved consumers approximately $5 billion annually.
Another significant loss for consumers came when the bureau abandoned its defense of a rule that would have capped late payment fees charged by credit card companies. This regulation, estimated to save Americans roughly $10 billion, was blocked by a federal court last year, and the Trump-controlled CFPB opted not to appeal the decision.
The report further identifies approximately $4 billion in potential consumer relief that was lost when the bureau dismissed several high-profile lawsuits. These included a $2 billion lawsuit against Capital One filed in January 2025, just days before President Trump’s inauguration, alleging misrepresentation of interest rates on savings accounts. Another dismissed case involved a $870 million lawsuit against Early Warning Systems, the operator of Zelle, filed in December 2024 over alleged negligence in protecting consumers from fraud and scams.
The effectiveness of the CFPB’s complaint resolution process has also diminished significantly. Under the Biden administration, approximately half of all consumer complaints were resolved with some form of relief for the consumer. Under Trump’s CFPB, that figure has plummeted to less than 5%.
In a separate but related development, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report Monday detailing its attempts to monitor the Trump administration’s reorganization of the CFPB. The GAO reported receiving no cooperation from either the White House or the bureau, forcing investigators to rely primarily on public records. The CFPB cited ongoing litigation between its employees and management as the reason for its lack of cooperation.
The GAO’s findings largely corroborate news reports that the bureau has canceled dozens of enforcement actions, unwound numerous consumer protection regulations, and even targeted rules established during President Trump’s first term.
Mark Paoletta, the bureau’s chief legal officer under Vought, dismissed the GAO’s report as “biased and flawed” but did not specifically contest its conclusions, claiming only that the agency was working with incomplete information.
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7 Comments
This report highlights the ongoing tensions between different political ideologies and priorities when it comes to financial regulation. It will be interesting to see how this issue evolves under the current administration.
Agreed, these debates around the proper role and scope of the CFPB often become highly partisan. Objective analysis is critical.
This highlights the ongoing debate around the CFPB’s role and the balance between consumer protection and regulatory oversight. It’s a complex issue without easy answers.
Absolutely, these policy shifts can have significant real-world consequences for consumers that need to be rigorously evaluated.
As an investor, I’ll be closely watching how these CFPB changes impact the financial services industry and consumer lending landscape going forward. Regulatory shifts can create both risks and opportunities.
While the $19B figure is substantial, I would want to see the full methodology and assumptions behind the analysis before drawing firm conclusions. These types of reports can sometimes oversimplify complex policy changes.
Interesting report on the potential impact of CFPB changes under the Trump administration. It will be important to closely examine the details and data to understand the full scope and implications.