Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs funding, judge rules
A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s argument that it cannot secure funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
A federal appeals court will soon decide whether the Trump administration can take steps that could gut the agency, including firing more than half of the agency’s employees tasked with helping consumers.
The Trump administration has delayed funding and moved to cut positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in an effort to rein in the agency, which it says has engaged in fraud and harmed consumers by unfairly targeting some companies.
But advocates say the administration’s actions could further cripple a government agency that has returned more than $21 billion to consumers since 2011 and take away important institutions created by Congress to help consumers.
The 11 sitting judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled to hold a hearing on February 24th to decide whether to uphold a preliminary injunction blocking the firings, contract terminations and other actions of most CFPB employees.
CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that the Trump administration is overhauling “abusive” agencies that have been “armed against the American people and the industries that serve them.”
But at stake, several advocates said, is the fate of the CFPB’s consumer complaint system and database, where consumers can seek help disputing credit card and loan charges, car repossessions, home foreclosures and other concerns. Supporters say the CFPB is the only federal agency with the authority to confront financial institutions on behalf of consumers, a power given to it by Congress when it was created after the 2008 financial crisis.
“Losing America’s Wall Street watchdog, especially the ability for consumers to file complaints when things go wrong, would be devastating,” Protect Borrowers Executive Director Mike Pearce told USA TODAY.
What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
The CFPB is an independent agency created by Congress in 2010.
Has the authority to investigate and respond to consumer complaints. It also monitors financial markets for potential fraud, enforces laws aimed at eliminating discrimination in consumer finance, and enacts regulations that limit high credit card and overdraft fees.
In 2023, the CFPB assisted Philadelphia consumer David Biddle. He struggled on the phone with financial institutions for nearly three months to close a $27,500 fraudulent loan, which strained his credit. However, no action was taken until he filed a complaint.
“I just went to the CFPB and they did their job,” Biddle told USA TODAY. Nine business days later, he received a letter from the credit reporting agency saying his account had been closed.
The CFPB had its critics from the beginning.
But the CFPB has always been unpopular with financial institutions, businesses, and many conservative lawmakers.
In a January 5, 2026 blog post, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for changes to the CFPB’s consumer complaint system, saying the agency’s previous leadership took steps to condone fraudulent claims.
The American Bankers Association, which asked President Donald Trump in a January 2025 letter to “cease all overt regulatory efforts,” told USA TODAY it appreciates “the efforts of Trump administration regulators, including the CFPB, to correct some of the past administration’s overreach.”
President Trump did not respond to USA TODAY’s investigation, but told reporters in February 2025 that he wanted to eliminate the agency, saying, “We’re trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.”
The lawsuit also challenges the CFPB’s funding, which by law is provided through the Federal Reserve System.. In at least one case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, the funding was found to be legal.
Vought did not request funding from agencies for nearly a year. But on January 9, he requested funds to sustain the CFPB through March, following a court ruling that said he could not deny these funds.
Vought, the lead author of Project 2025, which called for the abolition of the CFPB, said in a statement to USA TODAY that the CFPB reviews investigations and “when appropriate, dismissed investigations and lawsuits targeting disadvantaged industries and companies.”
This includes “incidents alleging racial discrimination where there is no evidence of discrimination,” he said. “By going after companies it doesn’t like, the CFPB ends up actually harming the very consumers it claims to be protecting,” Vought said.
The CFPB has permanently dismissed 22 pending lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions since February 2025, according to an October report from Protect Borrowers. The company has also amended, terminated early or otherwise modified 23 court-approved settlements, including three cases since the report, Pierce said. In some cases, such as Toyota Motor Credit and Navy Federal Credit Union, the CFPB has reversed companies’ obligations to refund tens of millions of dollars to customers, he said.
“CFPB Lip”
Ellie Meyer, a former CFPB chief engineer on the team that built the complaint system in 2011, worries that if the database and the CFPB are shut down, consumers will have nowhere to turn. He said no other federal, local, or state agency has been given more authority by Congress to hold financial institutions accountable than the CFPB. Meyer spoke exclusively to USA TODAY about her concerns that the complaint portal her team built will be shut down.
Meyer resigned in February last year. The day she “left the building with a cardboard box, I ran into DOGE,” Meyer told USA TODAY, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency employee. Later, as she was driving out of the parking lot, she saw Elon Musk’s tweet, “CFPB RIP.”
“The CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Process is the most effective tool Americans have to obtain assistance from their banks, credit card and student loan servicers,” Meyer said. “In 2024, 2.7 million people received relief, including $93 million in restitution. In 2025, grievances have doubled. If that goes away, many, many people will be left in the lurch.”
Complaint systems put pressure on companies
A CFPB attorney told USA TODAY that consumer complaints also helped CFPB officials determine whether the problem was more widespread. The paper agreed to grant the employee anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency and feared it would affect his employment.
He was one of the employees not allowed to work since early February 2025. Many employees have been locked out of the building and have not been given assignments by their supervisors, he said.
“During this affordability crisis, the CFPB’s mission is more important than ever, and we simply want to get back to the job of protecting consumers,” the attorneys said.
Chuck Bell, director of advocacy programs at Consumer Reports, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that his organization has “heard from countless consumers who were unable to resolve their disputes until they filed a complaint with the CFPB.”
Meyer said there are already glimpses of what will happen if the consumer complaint portal is shut down.
Vought closed the facility for 24 hours in February 2025, but “kept dragging its feet” until a preliminary injunction forced it to reopen, she said. The delay resulted in more than 16,000 consumer complaints and 75 impending foreclosure complaints stalled, according to testimony on March 11, 2025, from Matthew Pfaff, current chief of staff for the CFPB’s Consumer Affairs Bureau, which prompted the preliminary injunction.
Adam Last, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, said the complaint system is still up and running for now, but it has lost its effectiveness.
Complaints are on the rise, with 43.3% of the more than 12.6 million complaints registered since 2011 being filed in the last year, and more than 97% of unresolved complaints coming after the Vought takeover, he said.
“Financial companies know that accountability is gone,” Last told USA TODAY. “With no one in the consumer’s shoes, complaints are ignored and people pay the price every day.”
Biddle doesn’t understand why consumer protection becomes political.
“Everyone in this country is a consumer. Everyone in this country knows how awful it is to have to deal with corporate and business bureaucracy,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her at @blinfisher on X, Facebook and Instagram and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky..
