Last week, Trump’s budget director, Russell Vought, who was also appointed as the CFBP director, notified employees at the CFPB that they were all pretty much fired and had reportedly closed the CFPB Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Who is the CFPB, and why does it matter?

The CFPB is a government agency that polices banks and financial institutions. Banks are very scared of the CFPB as they have not shied away from suing banks with literally billions of dollars when they found violations.

Without the CFPB, there is no one who polices the bank. It’s like the NY-subway-without-police-type. 

The next time you have a shoutout with an Amex rep on the phone about whether they did or did not promise to give you the welcome bonus, you can no longer threaten that you’ll complain to the CFPB… 

And the medical collection ban is now canceled

The Trump administration also canceled a new rule by the CFPB that was meant to go into effect shortly, which would ban medical collections from being reported on consumer credit reports. This new rule is now canceled and medical debt can continue to be reported on consumer credit reports.

Just note that New York and New Jersey have their own rules against medical debt being reported on consumer credit reports. 

Why did they close the CFPB?

The Trump administration did not provide any major details on why it decided to close the CFPB. Some claim it was Elon Musk’s decision because it gives him a free pass on creating X into a payment app without much oversight.

Another possible opinion is that the CFPB was too much of a left-leaning agency that spit out rules on banks that did not make much sense. With Trump stopping the funding, he gets a chance to open up a new agency and rebuild it from scratch for cheaper, better, and more effective.

Now that there is no CFPB, what can you do?

With the CFPB down, who can you complain to if you’re having issues with a bank? These are some options you can try for lack of better options. They may not do anything helpful but you can try your luck.

You can try to submit your complaint to:

• Your local state attorney general
• The Federal Reserve
• Your state banking regulator and charter administration
• Your state banking commission
• The FDIC for banks or the NCUA for credit unions
• State small claims court
• OCC
• FTC
• Arbitration
• The Better Business Bureau

What will end up happening with the CFPB? Let’s all sit together and wait and see.