FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 13, 2025
CONTACT:
Jarice Thompson
jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Your Money’s at Stake: A Time for Consumers to Fight for the CFPB
Washington DC – The only federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers and going after financial fraud by big banks, credit bureaus, and shady lenders, has been all but shut down, creating a new challenge for consumers who want to manage their finances well but now lack the services of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The CFPB, as it is known, was created in 2010 to stand up for consumers after the 2008 financial and mortgage crisis demonstrated that banking regulators were unwilling to protect people from shady and perilous financial products. Rigorous protection of everyday people often turns controversial in politics because powerful interests want to stop the work, which is roundly supported by actual consumers – the new administration has effectively shuttered the only government agency that keeps a watchful eye on Wall Street on behalf of consumers. The CFPB has returned billions of dollars to consumers who were defrauded by scams or victims of predatory lending practices.
“We’re in a perilous moment. There’s no financial tip or clever investment that can protect consumers from bad behavior by big banks or cap overdraft fees or prosecute financial scofflaws,” said Christine Chen Zinner, consumer policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “But those consumers are voters too, and they need to tell their elected representatives to stop the dismantling of the CFPB.”
Please email the address above to speak to Christine Chen Zinner OR to be connected with consumers who have benefited from CFPB’s work – perhaps even in your state.
Supported broadly by voters across political parties, the CFPB is well-liked because it actually does its job. Since its creation 14 years ago, the CFPB has returned over $21 billion to tens of millions of people in the form of cancelled debts or monetary restitution. It has also created new consumer protections – against credit card late fees, checking account overdraft chargers, and medical debt on credit reports – that have saved families money that are now at risk of simply vanishing.
These savings are not small for families living paycheck-to-paycheck. And when CFPB recovers a few thousand dollars, it really matters, even for middle-class families. Avoiding junk fees can really reduce financial pressure at the end of the month that can go towards paying down credit card debt or building up emergency savings. And it has doggedly pursued discrimination in lending and other financial services.
Whether it’s banks, predatory lenders, credit bureaus, or student loan servicers, CFPB punished bad actors that made corporations think twice about defrauding consumers. Many banks, including Capital One, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, faced lawsuits from CFPB for defrauding customers through the payment system Zelle or credit card practices. Damages reached nearly $3 billion. The current shutdown of the CFPB puts that money at risk.
“Stopping the CFPB’s work will allow the powerful Wall Street banks and many other companies to swindle their customers without fear of penalty by the nation’s top law enforcement agency for consumers,” said Amanda N. Jackson, director of consumer campaigns at AFR. “The guardrails that protect consumers are in danger of vanishing unless Congress steps in.”
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