FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Statement of Tom Feltner, Associate Director of Consumer Policy on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s New Proposed Layoff Plan:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) leadership, under Trump-appointee Russell Vought, has proposed a new layoff plan as part of its year-long campaign to shutter the agency charged with preventing financial fraud, abuse, and discrimination. The plan would reduce agency staff by over two thirds and sharply curtail its efforts to enforce regulations that prevent financial lawbreakers from taking advantage of everyday people. While this layoff plan is currently blocked by the courts and cannot go into effect immediately, it provides crucial insight into how the CFPB under Acting Director Vought is seeking to rollback financial safeguards even as the financial markets are in turmoil and scams continue to proliferate.
When Acting Director Vought said his goal was to shut down the CFPB by early 2026, we need to take him at his word. This layoff plan retains some core functions, but, absent court review, there is nothing stopping CFPB leadership from firing the remaining staff down the line. Rather than cutting enforcement, supervision, and outreach staff, we should be strengthening the capacity of those offices to hold financial wrongdoers accountable, prevent emerging risks like those that caused the 2008 financial crisis, and prevent the wave of scams making everyone’s lives more difficult and more expensive.
About the layoff proposal:
The proposed layoffs will continue the Trump Administration’s year-long effort to undermine the work of the CFPB and put consumers at risk of fraud, discrimination, and junk fees by:
- Advancing a layoff plan that would reduce total staff by 68 percent and decimate its enforcement and supervision staff — these changes would come even as nearly six million people have turned to the CFPB for help in the past year, financial scams continue to increase, and junk fees proliferate.
- Cancelling work to hold financial lawbreakers accountable and cutting enforcement staff by 80 percent from 2025 authorized levels — CFPB leadership has taken unprecedented steps to withdraw from cases or terminate pending enforcement actions. Of the 56 enforcement actions noted in the plan, the CFPB has resolved only seven and plans to continue just nine actions.
- Eliminating hundreds of supervision positions responsible for reviewing financial institutions conduct and making sure they comply with the law — CFPB leadership has proposed an 84 percent cut to examination staff, from 463 to just 75. The remaining staff will prioritize depository institutions even as risks associated with non-bank firms like payday lenders, private student loan companies, and auto lenders continue to mount.
- Abandoning education and outreach efforts to students, young consumers and low-wealth people and communities — CFPB leadership has proposed an 81 percent reduction in staff charged with education and outreach efforts for populations that are often targets for abusive practices. The Office of Servicemember Affairs, the Office of Older Americans, and the Private Student Loan Ombudsman would see substantial layoffs of at least half their current staff. The plan suggests that the Office for Students and Young Consumers and the Office of Community Affairs would be eliminated completely.
CFPB leadership submitted this plan as part of NTEU v. Vought. The lawsuit is one of several brought after CFPB leadership attempted, unsuccessfully, to close the CFPB and layoff over 90 percent of its workforce. The request was made to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and asked the court to modify the stay that is preventing CFPB leadership from continuing its effort to sideline and ultimately shutter the agency.
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