Trump administration leaves future of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau uncertain

The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in limbo after the Trump administration told the bureau's employees to suspend their work.

Thursday, Russell Vought was confirmed as the head of the Office of Management and Budget and acting director of the CFPB. Saturday, he instructed staff to suspend nearly all activities, including supervising financial firms.

This came after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the agency last week, and Musk posted on X, "CFPB RIP."

"If you have a bank account, or a credit card, or a mortgage, or a student loan, this is code red. I am ringing the alarm bell," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, in a video posted to her social media accounts Monday. "Elon Musk and the guy who wrote Project 2025, Russ Vought, are trying to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to trick, trap and cheat you."

President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings. pic.twitter.com/XzLXyz7hDn

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 10, 2025

Vought was a key author of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, a conservative blueprint to overhaul parts of the federal government.

"Already, this little agency has forced giant banks and corporations to give back more than $21 billion directly to families they cheated, and that includes hundreds of millions of dollars back for veterans who got cheated by predatory lenders," Warren said in the video. "Trump campaigned on helping working people, but now that he's in charge, this is the payoff to the rich guys who invested in his campaign and who want to cheat families and not have anybody around to stop them."

Warren helped create the CFPB in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

"When you pay an overdraft fee, there's a new rule that would cap that rate at $5 as opposed to $35. Medical debt on credit reports can wreck a person's financial profile and then keep them from getting a job, let alone a loan. There are all kinds of ways that the CFPB really touches on people's lives," said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America. "Suspending it essentially takes the cop off the beat, right, and there's a gap there."

According to the CFPB's website, as of Jan. 30, 2025, CFPB enforcement actions have resulted in $19.7 billion in consumer relief and $5 billion in civil money penalties. Some pages on the site remain up, but as of Monday, the home page produces a 404 error that says it cannot be found.

Rust says if consumers are facing a problem, they can still turn to their state's attorney general.

"Don't think that this means that no one can help you," he said. "It's just that the largest, most important financial regulator has been sidelined, but people should still know that they have to fight. If your bank's taking advantage of you, don't just accept it, fight back."

Vought also announced Saturday night on X that he had notified the Federal Reserve that "CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not 'reasonably necessary' to carry out its duties."

"The Bureau's current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment," the post continued. "This spigot, long contributing to CFPB's unaccountability, is now being turned off."

"For years, Republicans have tried and tried again to repeal it in Congress, and they have failed every single time," Warren said. "Congress built the CFPB and no one other than Congress -- not the president, not Musk, not Vought -- can shut it down."

The senator urged people to contact their representatives.

A union representing employees of the CFPB filed two lawsuits to block Vought's directives and block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing employee information.