FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 21 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Coalition Condemns Sweeping CFPB Deregulation Bill
The so-called CFPB Reform Act is another attempt by Congressional Republicans to enshrine deregulation into law and leave everyday people vulnerable to Wall Street corporate greed
Washington D.C. – Today, dozens of consumer, community, and civil rights organizations sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee urging them to reject the CFPB Reform Act of 2026, a new proposal that, if passed, would severely limit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) ability to hold big banks and tech companies accountable and to protect people from unfair, predatory, and discriminatory financial practices.
The CFPB has faced countless rollbacks, attempted shutdowns, and drastic funding and staff cuts in the past year. Instead of finding ways to protect people from financial abuse and preventing the next financial crisis, the Trump administration and its allies in Congress continue to look for ways to dismantle the only agency with the sole mission to protect people from the scams, discrimination, and abusive practices that continue to make the financial markets more expensive, more complicated, and less fair.
The letter can be found here.
“For 15 years, the CFPB worked to build a more resilient, fair, and competitive financial marketplace. That all changed with last year’s wholesale and irresponsible rollbacks ground CFPB work to a halt and put millions of people at financial risk,” said Tom Feltner, associate director of consumer policy at Americans for Financial Reform. “Now, Republicans in Congress want to double down on the attack on the CFPB already underway to devastating effect.”
The letter notes: “The discussion draft and its components attempt, yet again, to advance an even more extreme sweeping deregulatory agenda than the work currently underway at the CFPB under its Trump-appointed leadership and through the recent actions taken by Congress and the courts. Its provisions, collectively and individually, will make the financial market less safe, more complicated, more expensive, and more prone to exactly the type of financial crisis the CFPB was designed to prevent.”
“Since 2010, the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion to people harmed by financial fraud and misconduct. But the Trump administration’s reductions in force and funding have left the consumer watchdog on life support, and the reckless deregulation bill before Congress threatens to pull the plug,” said Alys Cohen, director of federal housing advocacy and acting co-director of federal advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. “Congress should be focused on the national affordability crisis, not attacking the only agency dedicated to putting money back in people’s pockets.”
“As household expenses rise, working families need the CFPB to be equipped with the necessary powers to protect their finances, but this extreme proposal would do the opposite, said Christine Hines, senior policy director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates. “Instead of enhancing the CFPB’s work, this bill would sabotage it, sending a message to big banks, debt collectors, credit bureaus, predatory lenders, and others that they can engage in risky conduct without proper oversight or consequences.”
“NFHA pushed for the creation of the CFPB and its Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity after communities of color were devastated by predatory mortgage loans and unnecessary foreclosures in the 2008 financial crisis. This led to $1 trillion in lost wealth for Black and Latino communities. Since then, CFPB has stood between everyday people and the lenders, debt collectors and servicers that profit off them,” said James Wylie, vice president of public policy and senior fair lending counsel at the National Fair Housing Alliance. “We are in the midst of a fair and affordable housing crisis made worse by tariffs, high gas prices, rising food costs, and unaffordable rent and mortgage costs. Congress should be empowering the CFPB to do more for consumers, not stripping away its ability to protect them.”
“Congress created a powerful advocate for consumers when it passed the Dodd-Frank Act — it was designed to develop rules that protect consumers and supervise and enforce consumer financial laws,” said Tara Flynn, policy director for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “The draft legislation adds insult to an already injured CFPB and would weaken every tool in the CFPB’s toolbox for protecting consumers when many are struggling to make ends meet.”
The letter concludes: “At a time when everyday people struggle to afford basic necessities and the cost of everything skyrockets, watch as bank fees and interest charges increase, and see financial institutions get one carve-out and handout after another, we urge Congress to reject the provisions in this discussion draft that would weaken the only agency with the sole mission of protecting people in the financial market.”
Related Resources
- Timeline of Attacks Against the CFPB during the Trump administration
- 2026 Polling: Strong, Bipartisan Support for CFPB and Key Safeguards
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