The CFPB’s Work Is on Pause – What Does It Mean for Your Money?

February 2025 brought major changes to the agency that some call the nation’s consumer watchdog: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In just a matter of days, the CFPB had a new director put in place, most of its work was put on an indefinite pause and as many as 100 employees were laid off.

What does this shakeup mean for you and your money? Mike Calhoun, President of the Center for Responsible Lending,summed it up in a statement saying that the pause gives financial companies “a green light to cheat working Americans out of their hard-earned money.”

Consumer advocacy attorney Danny Karon also warns, “Consumers should be livid at best and scared at worst.” With the CFPB curbed, financial institutions will be allowed to “run amuck as they did before the CFPB was formed,” he says.

With the future of the CFPB up in the air, one thing is certain: Now is the time to be extra cautious about how you manage your finances and personal information.

What Does the CFPB Do?

In 2010, the CFPB was created by congress to help prevent another disaster like the 2008 financial crisis. It was the only federal agency dedicated entirely to the job of consumer financial protection.

Until the recent pause in its work, the agency was focused on protecting consumers from “unfair, deceptive or abusive tactics” used by banks, credit card companies, payday lenders, private student loan lenders, digital payment apps and more. This included investigating reports of illegal foreclosures and repossessions, and creating rules to curb fraud.

“The CFPB has two primary functions,” explains Erica Sandberg, consumer finance expert at BadCredit.org. “It proposes and enforces federal consumer financial laws and gives consumers a process to complain if lenders don’t comply.”

In other words, the CFPB helps people avoid being taken advantage of financially and helps them fight back after being harmed. Some of their major victories include:

• Recovering more than $21 billion for people impacted by scams, fraud and illegal charges.
• Banning credit bureaus from including medical debt in credit reports.
• Suing JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo for failing to protect Zelle users.
• Saving consumers an estimated $6.1 billion in overdraft and NSF fees.

How Has the CFPB Been Impacted So Far?

Since the new administration took over in January 2025, things have changed quickly for the CFPB. In February, the White House posted an article calling the agency “another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy.” President Donald Trump also made his intentions for the agency completely clear, telling reporters he plans to eliminate it altogether.

Here’s we know about the changes so far:

February 1: Rohit Chopra was removed from his position as CFPB director.

February 3: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was named acting director. He immediately paused the agency’s legal cases and enforcement actions.

February 7: Russell Vought took over as director. CFPB staff were informed that employees from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) need access to CFPB data and systems. Elon Musk tweets “CFPB RIP.” The agency’s home page has since read an “error” message.

February 10: Vought emailed staff, instructing them, “Please do not perform any work tasks.”

February 11: Dozens of CFPB employees were fired and work contracts were canceled. The directors of supervision and enforcement resigned.

February 13: A lawsuit was filed against Vought by several groups, including the NCLC, NAACP, Virginia Poverty Law Center. The suit alleged that mass firings actions are illegal.

February 14: A federal judge ordered an injunction to stop firings, any actions to halt funding for the agency and the illegal destruction of records.

What Does This Mean for Your Finances?

At this point we can only guess how things will shake out for the CFPB and for everyday consumers. Experts have predicted a wide variety of outcomes, ranging from an overturn of all CFPB rules to another financial crisis.

Despite extreme predictions, Sandberg says, “It’s extremely important not to panic.”

What does she foresee happening while the CFPB is inactive? “Lenders may take steps to increase late and overdraft fees. People with bad credit may experience less access to products since the CFPB also helped ensure that banks offered credit to financially risky individuals.”

You might see some other shifts as well, since most of the CFPB’s employees have been ordered to stop all work that involved fighting financial abuse. That means you could potentially be exposed to more risky and unfair practices from creditors, or find it more difficult to get help if you’re a victim of financial abuse.

Can You Still File a Complaint with the CFPB?

One of the CFPB’s main roles has been to investigate complaints from consumers. You can still submit an online complaint, but no action will be taken to investigate until further notice.

In the meantime, if you need help dealing with financial mistreatment, you could have better luck with one or more of these options:

1. Reach out to the company directly to try and resolve the issue.
2. Post your complaint on the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB’s) website and/or other customer review sites.
3. Contact your state’s consumer protection office for guidance.

Five Ways to keep your money safe with the CFPB on pause

With the CFPB’s work on pause, you’ll need to keep an even closer eye on your finances. Without strong consumer protections, it will take more work to avoid becoming a victim of predatory and unfair practices. Here’s what you can do to keep your money safe:

1. Protect your credit

Unfortunately, there’s a chance your sensitive information has been or will be compromised, since reports say that the CFPB data has been transferred to commercial servers that are not necessarily secure or private.

How can you protect yourself from identity theft, fraud or other worst-case scenarios? One of the best ways is to freeze your credit. When you place a free credit freeze with the credit bureaus, no one can open a new credit card or loan in your name.

Here’s where you can go to set up a freeze with each bureau:

• Experian
• Equifax
• TransUnion

You can also pull your free credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com for free to look for unusual activity.

2. Monitor your financial accounts

Legislation has already been introduced to overhaul the CFPB’s $5 limit on overdraft fees. And rules that limit credit card late fees and other protections are likely to be overturned, too.

Here’s what you can do to avoid unexpected fees, fraud and other fallout:

• Stay updated on the terms and conditions of your financial accounts, including your credit cards, loans, bank accounts and digital payment apps.
• Review your financial statements at least once a month.
• Be on the lookout for unauthorized charges or overcharges from creditors.
• If you see an unfamiliar transaction, address it right away.

3. Read the fine print

Until the CFPB is active again, you’ll need to take extra caution when you’re dealing with lenders and other financial companies.

Before signing any financial documents or using digital payment apps, read the fine print carefully. For example, if you decide to use the forthcoming payment app from X (formerly Twitter) and Visa, be sure to read the app’s disclosures on their fraud policies, refunds and privacy measures first.

4. Use the CFPB’s online tools

Some of the CFPB’s online resources have been deleted, but the website is still largely intact. Before the rest of the site comes down, make use of these excellent online tools:

• Credit Cards Explorer: Compare the best credit-cards for your situation, without any hidden marketing.
• Step-by-step guides: Learn how you can reach major financial goals, like buying a home.
• Consumer Complaint Database,: Read consumer complaints before you choose to do business with a new company.
• Ask CFPB: Search for unbiased answers to your financial questions.

5. Build your safety net

Avoid being in a situation where you have to work with a risky lender or predatory credit card company.

If your credit scores are low or your emergency savings fund is non-existent, take steps to remedy the problem now. That might mean making significant cuts to your spending for the time-being, and/or finding ways to bring in more income. A combination of the two actions could help you pay off debt faster, improve your credit scores and potentially avoid any need for questionable loans or credit cards.

If you’re not sure where to start, reach out to an NFCC-certified credit counselor for professional, one-on-one guidance.