Shutting Down CFPB Could Reopen Wounds of the Financial Crisis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 10, 2025

Shutting Down CFPB Could Reopen Wounds of the Financial Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC —The Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s “DOGE” this past weekend took aggressive action to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and render it inoperational for the hundreds of millions of Americans it protects in the financial marketplace. The bureau’s acting director, Russell Vought, ordered the CFPB headquarters building closed, barred employees from the office, and instructed them not to perform any work tasks.

“This administration’s cynical efforts to dismantle the CFPB is an attack—involving likely illegal actions—on all consumers,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. “It is further proof that they are only interested in protecting themselves and their wealthy corporate friends – and not at all interested in the plights of hardworking Americans.”

These actions to devastate the bureau’s function is reminiscent of the 2007-2008 financial crisis involving reckless financial institutions and the idle regulators who abandoned their oversight of the big banks and lenders. These events very nearly crippled the U.S. and global economy, collapsing banks and leaving millions of consumers in financial ruins.

“The horrific financial crisis proved that the financial services market needs a watchdog like the CFPB,” said Christine Hines, NACA’ s senior policy director. “Shutting the bureau down hurts the people the bureau protects from scams and predators, and it will hurt the companies that clearly need the agency’s fair rules, guidance, and law enforcement to deter potentially foolish behavior.”

In the last 14 years the bureau has collected over $21 billion in relief for over 200 million people and protected targeted groups such as servicemembers and veterans, returning $363 million back to them through numerous public enforcement actions.

“It’s clear that the CFPB must be allowed to continue its work, and the recent actions to muzzle this critical agency must be stopped before more damage is done,” Rheingold said.

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