Americans for Financial Reform is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition working to lay the foundation for a strong, stable, and ethical financial system.
April 5th 2025 Hands Off CFPB Union Signs

Blog: There is No “Right Way” to Close the CFPB

Let’s be clear: Hal Scott’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—because the Fed has been running a deficit—isn’t just a bad policy recommendation; it’s an intentionally backward argument that advocates harming the very people the financial system has historically exploited.

Blog: Vacated MoneyGram Case Will Hurt the World’s Most Vulnerable Populations

This week, the Trump administration withdrew a 2022 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) lawsuit against MoneyGram for its persistent failure to comply with consumer protection laws by failing to promptly deliver transfers, resolve disputes, and implement policies to comply with the law. The Trump CFPB’s refusal to hold MoneyGram accountable for its repeated and ongoing unlawful behavior is part of a pattern of willfully ignoring lawbreaking and letting financial scofflaws off the hook. 

Blog: Wall Street Payouts Threaten Our Health — Here’s How 

Healthcare has become a nightmare: rising costs, denied care, and mounting patient debt, all while Wall Street rakes in massive profits. On February 24, 2025, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) and the Health and Political Economy Project (HPEP) hosted a webinar featuring physician and researcher Dr. Victor Roy, economist Lenore Palladino, and longtime physician and healthcare policy expert Dr. Donald Berwick.

Blog: On Community Development, Bank Regulators Are Stuck in 1995

Banking has changed a lot since 1977, but CRA regulations have not been meaningfully updated in three decades. In 2023, the banking regulators modernized the old brick and mortar banking rules for the modern era and strengthened CRA performance evaluations. Under new Trump-appointed leadership, regulators are now inexplicably walking away from these improvements.