The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau got a new director on Friday, Russell Vought. He was named by President Trump as acting CFPB director, just a day after being confirmed to head the Office of Management and Budget.
Vought was one of the authors of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint that laid out Trump's plans if he successfully won the presidency. He did and now Project 2025 is being implemented. Among the changes it recommended was abolishing the CFPB.
Elon Musk signaled his intention to do just that with an X posting on Friday, posting a graphic of a tombstone next to "CFPB RIP."
CFPB RIP 🪦
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025
The financial services industry has long despised the consumer bureau for its rules holding down "junk fees" on mortgages, interest rates and overdraft fees, policing payday loans and generally putting consumers' interests first. It has returned more than $21 billion to consumers in the form of rebates, penalties and settlements.
Basically shut down
But today, the CFPB is basically shut down. Its aggressive director, Rohit Chopra, was fired roughly a week ago and agents of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moved into the CFPB's offices and began going through files.
On Saturday, Vought ordered the agency's 1,700 workers to stop most of their work and on Sunday, he closed the headquarters for the week.
CFPB's union employees issued a statement on Friday complaining that the DOGE workers were examining information from consumers and businesses that is legally protected from public disclosure and examination by unauthorized persons. The union said there were concerns also that some DOGE employees had potential conflicts of interest.
"Cybersecurity experts have compared the DOGE activity to a data breach. Federal employees have also sued over alleged privacy violations," the union said.
CFPB RIP
While bureau employees and consumer advocates are aghast at the Trump Administration's actions, no one can say they are surprised. Business interests have long viewed the CFPB as a menace and have vowed to get rid of it.
The bureau was created by Congress following the housing crisis of 2008 as a new "cop on the beat" as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), its primary architect, termed it.
No one denies that it was successful at its task of backstopping consumers but its critics say it went too far and hindered businesses' profits and expansion. Its new acting director, Vought, called it "a woke & weaponized agency against disfavored industries and individuals for a long time" in an X posting.
There will no doubt be numerous legal challenges to the Trump team's efforts to eradicate the CFPB. Since it is a creation of Congress, not the executive branch, getting rid of it may not be as quick and easy as Project 2025 foresaw.