On Monday, February 10, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Maxine Waters, and others will gather for a rally at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Elon Musk and Donald Trump are stealing from consumers, attempting to kill this essential agency that protects Americans from fraud and exploitation at the hands of banks and other corporations.
The shutdown of all supervision and oversight by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will allow all manner of financial companies, from Wall Street megabanks to payday lenders to financial technology firms to credit bureaus to rip people off and mistreat their customers at will.
“Every day that the CFPB is paralyzed because Musk, DOGE, or Trump stop its work is another day that consumers get ripped off, customers get denied bank accounts because they’re not white, or honest businesses lose money to fraudulent payments,” said Christine Chen Zinner, consumer policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, a coalition of over 200 public interest groups fighting for a fairer financial system, today demanded answers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about the reported presence at the agency of three representatives of Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE team.
AFR submitted a statement for the record hearing that challenges the notion of so-called de-banking, which is really a red herring to obscure the real risks from reckless speculation, egregious self-dealing, or illegal and harmful financial transactions by the companies that complain.
AFR submitted a Statement for the Record to the House Financial Services Committee to oppose both the resolution of disapproval of the CFPB’s overdraft fee rule as well as the legislative proposals that would repeal or weaken the small business and farm lending transparency rules. These proposals will hurt everyday people, including consumers and their families, as well as small business owners and farmers and the communities they serve.
Today, the Republican House majority revealed draft legislation to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) overdraft rule from going into effect on October 1, 2025. The CFPB’s overdraft fee rule will reduce big bank overdraft fees from $35 per transaction down to $5, a move that will save the 23 million households in the United States that pay overdraft fees $5 billion annually, or $225 per family.
The Republican-led House Financial Services Committee is devoting its first hearing of the new Congress to destroying a CFPB final rule that would slash a particularly abusive big-bank junk fee – overdraft charges – from $35 down to $5, which would save people $5 billion each year, or $225 per household.
The Private Equity Climate Risks project unveiled an update to its public database of the energy holdings of 20 of the world’s largest private equity firms, the Private Equity Energy Tracker, bringing into focus the latest state of private equity investments in the energy sector.
Dozens of consumer protection, community development, environmental, climate, and racial justice advocates have joined together to form the Equitable & Just Insurance Initiative, a coalition that aims to develop solutions that can guide community leaders and policy advocates working to address the climate-driven insurance crisis.