FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 25, 2025

Contact: Carter Dougherty, carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

Warren to Highlight Trump-Musk Attempts to Dismantle CFPB
Shutting of consumer protection agency leaves millions exposed to scams and fraud

 Washington D.C. – Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will host a forum today to investigate the Trump administration’s illegal efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

“The CFPB exemplifies the government working for people in a way that matters: putting money that they earned back in their pockets,” said Christine Chen Zinner, consumer counsel at the Americans for Financial Reform. “The Trump-Musk efforts to dismantle the CFPB demonstrates a complete disregard for everyday people, who are now vulnerable to ripoffs and scams because this administration favors billionaires over the people.”

Warren invited billionaire Elon Musk to explain the role of his so-called DOGE team in the effort to destroy the CFPB.

Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought has effectively shuttered the CFPB, the only federal agency devoted to protecting consumers in the financial services marketplace, first through a stop work order, followed by mass firings of both probationary and limited-term CFPB staff. Now, he is even trying to terminate the CFPB’s lease on its building, even as he faces a suspension order from a federal judge while his illegal actions are litigated.

When not hamstrung by the Trump administration, the CFPB has vigorously protected everyday people and their families against scams, ripoffs, and market failures. This agency cracked down on junk fees, reduced medical debt burdens for 15 million people in the US, and fought lending discrimination. It held financial institutions accountable when they scammed and cheated people, and returned over $21 billion to over 200 million people in the form of restitution or cancelled debts.

Shuttering this agency paused critical enforcement actions, including efforts to hold Capital One accountable for cheating customers out of $2 billion in interest payments on savings accounts, and efforts to protect military families from illegal and excessive charges under the Military Lending Act. Vought has also begun dropping lawsuits, notably one against an online lender that falsely claimed it offered zero percent interest.

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