FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 14, 2026
Contacts: National Consumer Law Center, Stephen Rouzer, srouzer@nclc.org
Americans for Financial Reform, Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
CFPB Hides Corporate Wrongdoing from Public View
Trump Administration Removes Consumer Reports from Public Database
WASHINGTON – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a move to shield large corporations from public scrutiny by ceasing publication of the narratives people submit when they ask for help from the CFPB and the data visualizations that help the public understand the patterns in the more than 17 million reports submitted to the CFPB to date. This leaves the public without critical data it can use to hold corporations accountable.
“Hiding the consumer narratives and concealing the wrongdoing of corporations and powerful interests, that’s what you do if you’re afraid of the truth,” said Diane Thompson, deputy director and chief advocacy officer at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). “Nothing could be a clearer sign of the Trump CFPB’s choice to stand against ordinary people and for corporate power and predation.”
“As it shuts down narratives in the complaint database, this CFPB is disregarding its obligation to make the marketplace fair and transparent for everyday consumers, and instead, is helping big banks, lenders, debt collectors, credit bureaus, and others to evade public scrutiny and accountability,” said Christine Hines, senior policy director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
“The sunlight gleaned from complaint narratives informs many stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, Congress, and the press, on what problems are occurring in their communities. Real time information of consumer harm is particularly important as new threats spike following natural disasters,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America. “These narratives, all published with consumer consent, convey the emotional hurt caused when companies act without regard for the law. It’s wrong, especially at a time when so many people are struggling to make ends meet, to blunt their voices.”
“At every step, Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has done favors for financial firms and kicked families in the teeth,” said Mike Pierce, executive director of Protect Borrowers. “As costs keep climbing and more Americans turn to debt to stay afloat, this is the worst possible moment to deny the public and policymakers access to basic information about the problems people experience when buying a home, taking out a car loan, paying for college, or putting groceries on a credit card. This is just the latest and most extreme example of Trump’s consumer watchdog fighting for corporations instead of standing up for the rest of us.”
“The CFPB has encouraged people to share their stories about financial scams, harmful practices, customer service runarounds, and discrimination for over a decade without issue,” said Tom Feltner, director of consumer policy at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Hiding the experiences of everyday people is just another attempt by the Trump-Vought CFPB to cover up people’s widespread and growing mistreatment at the hands of financial firms that make their lives more difficult and more expensive.”
“Behind every one of those complaints is someone who was denied a home mortgage, lowballed on an appraisal, or paid more in interest on an auto loan and couldn’t get anyone to explain why,” said James Wylie, National Fair Housing Alliance Vice President of Public Policy and Senior Fair Lending Counsel. “The CFPB just made those accounts invisible. The discrimination doesn’t disappear with them; it just gets harder to prove. This decision protects corporations. Not the people of America.”
“Americans deserve user-friendly, searchable access to details about these issues, so they can make educated purchasing decisions,” said Mike Litt, PIRG’s consumer campaign director. “Companies have an incentive to respond to and fix problems precisely because complaints are made public. Nearly six million consumers who have filed with the CFPB have received some kind of relief, such as getting money back or getting a mistake on a credit report fixed. That’s a real, tangible benefit the public database makes possible.”
Since 2012, the CFPB complaint database has published consumers’ requests for help including complaint narratives detailing consumer experiences and providing critical information for consumers comparing banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financial services providers.
In 2025, the CFPB received over 6.5 million consumer requests for help that it sent to more than 4000 companies for review and response. Consumer outreach to the CFPB has doubled year over year for the last several years.
Related Resources
- Press Release: CFPB Takes Further Steps to Suppress Consumer Complaints, February 9, 2026
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Since 1969, the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center® (NCLC®) has worked for consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. through its expertise in policy analysis and advocacy, publications, litigation, expert witness services, and training.