Consumer protection agency's work halted
By: sudiksha Kochi
and Erin Manbsfield
USA Today
WASHINGTON - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency designed to protect consumers form the banking industry in the wake of the Great Recession, is halting its operations, according to news reports.
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The change comes shortly after Trump announced he appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Besent to be acting director of the bureau, replace Biden appointee Rohit Chopra, who Trump fired over the weekend. [02/01-02/2025]
..... Bessent and his aides sent out an email to staffers at the bureau on Monday [02/03/2025] ordering them to stop conduction probes, implementing rules, providing pubic communications and other activites, according to the Washingotn Post adn Bloomberg Law.
..... The bureau is an independent agency and housed under the Federal Reserve, and the president selects it leader, Chopra was appointed to a five-year term that would have ended in 2026.
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The latest move was taken "to promote consistency with the goals of the administration," according to the email obtained by multiple news outlets.
..... The move sparked criticism from Democrats, who argued that it could have negative consequences for Americans.
..... "Shutting down CFPB enforcement actions that are on the verge of delivering money into the pockets of working people is at odds with President Donald Trump's claim that he wants to lower cost for families -which he has done next to nothing on so far," Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, who helped create the bureau, said in a statement.
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Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, wrote on social media website X that the bureau exists to "protect YOUR data and interest, stand up to giant corporations, and bring BILLIOJS of dollars back to the American people who are scammed out of their hard-earned money."
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"Trump's appointee just froze the entire bureau;s work," she wrote.
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The CFPB will also no longer be defending banking rules in court that were put in place under former President Joe Biden, in cases challenging the scope of the bureau's authority, according to Reuters.
..... The bureau was established as an independent agency in 2011.
.....It plays a key role in investigating consumer complaints about how companies have treated them, munitioning financial markets for potential fraud and abuse, and working to educate consumers about personal finance, like mortgage and credit cards.
..... It also enforce laws laws aim to end discrimination in consumer finance, such as the truth in Lending Act which requires lenders to provide consumers with information about loan costs, It reign in excessive credit card and overdraft fees.
..... The agency has obtained over $21 billion in financial relief, it says on its website, for more than 200 million Americans from companies it has investigated and fined.
Contributing: Andrea Riquies, USA Today; Reuters