FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2025
Broad Coalition of State Groups Urges Congress to Reject Attempts to Gut Consumer Protections
The Agency that saved people billions is at risk of destruction-by-defunding
Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee voted on party lines to strip away consumer and investor protections to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and corporations as part of the budget reconciliation package. The Committee’s legislation included deep cuts to the funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency dedicated to protecting people from financial predation and scams. The CFPB has returned over $21 billion to more than 200 million people, and kept billions more in people’s pockets with consumer-protection focused regulations, supervision, and enforcement actions.
Kelly Griffith, CEO Center for Economic Integrity, Tucson Arizona
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is essential to ensure that consumers and businesses are treated fairly in the marketplace. It creates sensible “rules of the road” which ensures our economy continues to move forward in the right direction. Fairness, clarity and accountability are the foundations of a financial system that is healthy, vibrant and innovative. The CFPB is widely popular with voters across the political spectrum for good reason. American consumers and businesses understand the importance of this agency and have not forgotten the big bank bailouts and financial greed that derailed many during the 2008 financial crisis.”
Scott Maurer, Alexander Community Law Center, California
“On multiple occasions, filing a CFPB complaint brought almost immediate relief to our clients when banks had improperly failed to protect funds our low-income clients desperately needed. It’s sad that the agency that most helped our clients is under attack for doing the job Congress gave them to do.”
Robert Herrell, Executive Director, Consumer Federation of California
“Gutting the CFPB is a massive short-term and long-term lapse in common sense. It will harm consumers, allow those taking advantage of vulnerable consumers to evade accountability for their actions, damage those companies doing the right thing and cost the federal government and consumers. We need defenders of the CFPB to stand up for consumers in the face of this assault.”
Leigh Ferrin, OneJustice, California
“The CFPB is and has been vital in helping to resolve some of the trickiest consumer law issues for low-income clients who may not otherwise have had the ability to access any kind of justice. The CFPB has ensured low-income Americans are able to stay in their homes, that they are not unlawfully harassed by debt collectors, and that banks charge reasonable fees to their customers. Eliminating the CFPB and its power means millions of consumers across the United States – no matter their political party – will have no recourse when they are harmed by predatory practices by banks, debt collectors, mortgage services, and other companies.”
Kevin Stein, Rise Economy, California
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of the most effective agencies in government, and the only one solely focused on protecting consumers from financial abuse. Continued attacks on the CFPB unequivocally threaten working-class families in California and across the nation. Since its founding, the CFPB has returned over $21 billion to people harmed by predatory financial practices. Gutting the agency not only strips away critical protections and gives Wall Street a free pass, but it also violates the intent of Congress when it created the bureau in response to the last financial crisis. We urge Congress to reverse course and defend the CFPB’s mission to protect the public, not corporate profits.”
Alysson Snow, University of San Diego School of Law, Housing Rights Legal Clinic, California
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was born out of necessity to help normal Americans protect their homes, bank accounts, and pocket books from mega banks and predatory lending institutions. In the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, the “too-big-to-fail” banks pleaded for and received government welfare to bail them out. Our lawmakers knew that, without oversight, the whole debacle would happen again. Hence, the birth of the CFPB. Now, here we are again. The same entities that received our hard earned tax payer dollars are seeking to tear down the one government entity meant to keep them from engaging in the same fraudulent and deceptive business practices that led us down into the Great Recession. We must protect the one government entity that protects us.”
Chris deGruy Kennedy, President & CEO of Bell Policy Center, Colorado
“The CFPB has been a champion for consumers across the nation, including Coloradans who’ve been ripped off by debt collectors, loan processors, big banks and more,” said Chris deGruy Kennedy, President & CEO of the Bell Policy Center, a Colorado-based nonprofit that focuses on economic mobility. “The actions this congress and this administration have taken to diminish the CFPB show how they continue to prioritize corporations over people.”
Charles Brennan, Income and Housing Policy Director, Colorado Center on Law and Policy, Colorado
“Scams, hidden fees, and predatory financial practices are draining money from hardworking families who can least afford it. The CFPB has been there for Coloradans to make sure financial companies follow the law and treat people fairly — and when they don’t, make it right. Those gains are now at risk. We must protect the CFPB!”
Mike Cortés, Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy & Research Organization (CLLARO), Denver, Colorado.
“CLLARO is deeply concerned that CFPB’s commitment to protect vulnerable consumers from abusive and unethical business practices is under political attack. We implore our elected representatives in Congress to sustain and strengthen CFPB’s political independence to assure a level economic playing field for all their constituents.”
Liz Coyle, Georgia Watch – Georgia
“Too many families in Georgia already struggle under the weight of medical debt, predatory loans, and financial scams. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created to serve as a strong, independent watchdog for hardworking people, not powerful financial companies. Weakening the CFPB would put Georgians at even greater risk of exploitation and harm.”
Nora Flaherty-Stanford, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine
“The protection the CFPB provides for all of us is vital. Ordinary consumers cannot and should not be continually defending ourselves against scams, predatory financial practices and incompetence that can result in financial hardship or ruin. That’s the lesson we learned in 2008 – and the very reason billionaires and the Republican lawmakers with whom they partner are trying to undo the agency. We can’t let that happen. Maine’s Members of Congress must support the CFPB, because the CFPB supports Mainers.”
Susan Block-Lieb, Fordham Law School, New York:
“The CFPB was created as an independent agency precisely because Congress understood how unpopular a strong CFPB would be with banks (big and small), non-bank lenders who push payday loans and car title pawns, financial service providers, and the lobbyists who “protect” these financial interests. But guess what: The CFPB has been hugely popular with the ordinary Americans these lobbyists work against.
The Trump Administration and DOGE didn’t understand or care how popular the CFPB has been with ordinary Americans. They don’t seem to understand or care that their efforts to ‘cancel’ the CFPB with a chain-saw wouldn’t work because Congress created the CFPB and only Congress can change that.
The House Financial Services Committee is similarly ignorant and indifferent. It views the House Budget Reconciliation process as an ‘easy way’ to cut the funding of the CFPB. But this ignores not just the Consumer Financial Protection Act, enacted in 2010. It also ignores CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association (2024) – a 7-2 decision of the Supreme Court (written by Justice Clarence Thomas), which upheld the CFPB’s financial independence as constitutional. The Appropriations Clause in Article II of the U.S. Constitution requires only that Congress identify the source of public funding and authorize its expenditure for a designated purpose. The CFPA did just this by identifying the Federal Reserve (not annual congressional appropriations) as the CFPB’s source of funding.
You can’t just wave a magic wand to make the CFPB go away.”
Rabbi David Rosenn, President and CEO, Hebrew Free Loan Society, New York
“As a nonprofit lender in New York City, we see up close the impact of credit products that deceive and mislead lower-income borrowers, trapping them in a cycle of debt that drains what little financial resources they need to stay afloat. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the federal government’s watchdog agency, holding financial services companies accountable, and protecting consumers from harmful financial products. A society without an effective mechanism for protecting ordinary people from wrongs done to them by powerful companies who are not playing by the rules is not the kind of society we aspire to. Rather than contemplating the dismantling of the CFPB, a great country would take pride in its work and provide it with strong bipartisan support.”
Raquel Villagra, Staff Attorney at New Economy Project, New York
“The full-scale attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would strip the agency of its independence and funding, further emboldening Wall Street to continue exploiting and extracting wealth from low-income communities and communities of color,” said Raquel Villagra, staff attorney at New Economy Project. “The CFPB was created in the wake of the foreclosure crisis—which devastated Black and brown communities—to serve as an independent watchdog against abusive and discriminatory banks and corporations. Congress should be reining in financial predators, not gutting the agency that holds them accountable.”
Brahvan Ranga, Political Director at For the Many, New York
“The CFPB is vital for everyday Americans, which is why it’s overwhelmingly popular with the majority of us. For too long, big banks and predatory lenders have been allowed to take advantage of hardworking families, charging exorbitant fees and trapping people in cycles of debt. The CFPB has been a critical safeguard, holding corporations accountable and ensuring that consumers have a voice when our rights are being disregarded, as they are right now. By protecting families from financial exploitation and promoting transparency in the market, the CFPB ensures that everyday people have a fair shot at financial security and dignity. It’s unconscionable that, instead of protecting and bolstering the agency as they should, Congress is clearing a path for DOGE and their chainsaws to destroy it.”
Chuck Bell, New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, New York
“Like consumers in other states, New Yorkers rely on the CFPB to resolve a wide range of practical financial services problems relating to deposit accounts, mortgages, payments, consumer loans and credit reports. We are highly concerned that normal CFPB processes for resolving consumer complaints are being severely disrupted by industry-backed attacks to reduce funding and staffing at the agency. New Yorkers for Responsible Lending calls on Congress to protect the CFPB at the critical moment by opposing bills that limit CFPB’s funding, operations and independence.”
Ashley Marshall, Co-Director of Forward Justice Action Network, North Carolina
“Communities of color have long been targeted by predatory lenders and shut out of fair financial opportunities. The CFPB is one of the few agencies with the power—and the mandate—to hold financial institutions accountable and protect working families from systemic discrimination. Dismantling or defunding it would deepen inequity and leave swaths of communities unprotected.”
Jason Pikler, NC Justice Center, North Carolina
“More than 288,000 residents of North Carolina have submitted complaints to the CFPB since the agency began accepting complaints in 2011, with approximately 100,000 of those complaints resulting in either monetary or non-monetary relief for the North Carolina resident. In just the first three months of 2025, 40,000 North Carolinians submitted complaints to the CFPB. What this means is that tens of thousands of North Carolinians continue to depend on the CFPB each year to help resolve issues with their credit reports, address unfair debt collection, and resolve disputes with their mortgage or student loan servicer, as well as to serve as the watchdog against abusive and predatory conduct. Stripping the CFPB of its workforce and resources will not magically end those abusive and predatory practices; instead, North Carolinians will simply have nowhere to turn when they need help. That not only hurts North Carolina consumers, tens of thousands of whom have received monetary or non-monetary relief through the efforts of the CFPB, but it also hurts upstanding companies that need to compete with scammers and entities who choose to cut corners and engage in unfair and deceptive practices.”
Jagjit Nagra, Executive Director, Oregon Consumer Justice, Oregon
“The CFPB is a critical watchdog agency and champion for consumers established in response to the deceptive and illegal practices that devastated families during the 2008 financial crisis. The efforts to dismantle this agency into a shell of its former self are an egregious affront to all consumers. Consumer protections are more vital than ever, given the current economy and realities that families and individuals are navigating just to stay afloat. Oregon Consumer Justice urges Congress to keep the CFPB independent and on the job, protecting the financial well-being of not just Oregonians, but all Americans.”
Annie Murphy, Executive Director, Clarifi, Philadelphia, PA
“As a trusted resource for people working toward financial resilience, Clarifi relies on the CFPB as a trusted partner for financial challenges we cannot resolve alone. Since last January, our organization has referred nearly 500 clients to the CFPB, where consumers can file complaints, hold financial institutions accountable, and learn about their rights and responsibilities. This agency has filled critical gaps in consumer protections for economically marginalized people, helping them navigate financial systems that have become more complex amid new technologies. By gutting the CFPB, we will lose a crucial backstop against predatory lending, false and deceptive advertising, consumer harassment, and other abuses of power by large banks and corporations. Protecting the CFPB means protecting millions of hardworking Americans so they can secure safer, stronger financial futures.”
Stephen Loughin, Executive Secretary for Quaker Action MidAtlantic Region (PA):
“The CFPB is an essential organization limiting the ability of usurious and unscrupulous actors from taking advantage of ordinary citizens. Friends have always advocated for honesty and integrity in business as well as the fair treatment of all persons, regardless of their circumstances. We would urge the representatives of our constituents here in PA, NJ and DE to choose not to limit or negate the good work CFPB has done for us. We need a strong and functional CFPB going forward.”
Elizabeth Colvin, RAISE Texas, Texas
“Texans deserve a fair financial system — not one rigged against them. The CFPB has delivered critical protections for families across our state, and RAISE Texas urges Congress to preserve its independence and keep standing up for hardworking Texans.”
Ann Baddour, Texas Appleseed, Texas
“Texans have benefited from a strong CFPB to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. A strong CFPB is government efficiency. Keeping financial services accountable and following the law, boosts both families and local economies. Any bill to weaken the CFPB plays into the hands of businesses that break the law.”
Stephanie Carroll, Directing Attorney, Consumer Law & Economic Justice, Public Counsel, Virginia
“The attack on the CFPB – one of the few federal agencies that has actually put money back in consumers’ pockets when they have been ripped off – is an attack on the American people. The reconciliation process threatens to stop the incredible work the CFPB does protecting consumers from predatory lending, fraud and profiteering. With economic indicators pointing towards a recession, we need to protect consumers now more than ever. Financially crippling the CFPB will expose Americans to ever more overdraft fees, predatory lending tactics, and debt, when most families are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Irene E. Leech, Ph.D., President, Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Virginia
“The CFPB provides invaluable consumer protection. It was set up to fix problems that financially eviscerated too many consumers and the economy. It went a long way toward leveling the playing field between big business and small business and consumers that had been imbalanced for too long. It was made independent so that games could not be played with its authority or funding. Instead of learning lessons from the past, some are set on repeating them by destroying the CFPB. Next time, it won’t just be mortgages that cause problems, it will also be fintech and new strategies to abuse and defraud consumers, stealing their American Dreams and undermining the most important things our country stands for.”
Patrice Smallwood, Secretary of the Virginia Organizing State Governing Board, Virginia
“The CFPB is not only essential for protecting consumers from being exploited by unjust and predatory lending tactics, but it is also a crucial agent for holding lenders accountable for violating consumer rights. Virginia Organizing has been supporting the CFPB since the beginning, and we will continue to defend it and consumer protections in Virginia.”
Jay Speer, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Virginia
“The CFPB has often been the only way that our financial laws are enforced against companies that refuse to follow the law and refuse to be held accountable. The CFPB must remain strong and independent and any legislator that does not support them is supporting lawlessness and economic exploitation.”
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