FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2025
CONTACT: Carter Dougherty, carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Nearly 190 Organizations Urge House of Representative to Oppose Musk-Fueled Rollback of CFPB Digital Payment Oversight
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, 187 community, technology, labor, civil rights, privacy, consumer, small business, and other organizations delivered a letter urging the U.S. House of Representatives to oppose a resolution to rescind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) digital payment app oversight rule.
“The House should reject this total giveaway to Big Tech that enriches Elon Musk and rewards him for his assault on the democratic governance and the rule of law,” said Amanda Jackson, director of consumer campaigns at Americans for Financial Reform. “Musk’s unlawful, unaccountable attack on the CFPB is aimed straight at this rule which would provide for supervision of his new X-Money payment app and safeguard users from fraud, privacy lapses, and losing access to accounts.”
The letter can be found here.
Background
Officially known as a “larger participant rule,” the measure would provide for CFPB oversight of Big Tech payment apps and digital wallets to protect users from fraud, privacy erosion, and deactivation of their accounts. The House will vote today on a plan to roll it back under the Congressional Review Act; the Senate voted for the rollback earlier this month.
“The rule does not adopt any new requirements; it simply makes sure that these large payment companies get the same oversight banks have to ensure that they comply with consumer financial protection laws and avoid risky practices,” the letter states. “The CRA resolution would allow these Big Tech companies to evade the statutory protections that people deserve to be free from fraud, abuse, deception, or personal data harvesting”.
The payment app and overdraft CRA votes today are the first times the full House of Representatives will cast a vote on the CFPB or its rules since the Trump administration and Musk began their effort to destroy the CFPB. And it represents a substantial conflict of interest for Elon Musk, whose X social media platform has recently launched an X-money payment app that would be subject to the rule.
“The Big Tech companies want to be exempt from oversight. Elon Musk’s DOGE attack on the CFPB — and on the payment act user protection rule in particular — will benefit Musk’s personal financial interests as his social media platform X has launched its own payment app X-Money that the platform plans to expand to a one-stop everything financial app,” the letter states. “Voting for this Congressional Review Act resolution prevents Musk’s X Money from receiving the same oversight banks get to ensure that they comply with the law.”
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