What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

Key takeaways

• The mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive or abusive practices by financial companies.
• CFPB enforcement actions have resulted in $19.7 billion paid to consumers in restitution, according to the agency's website.
• Since President Donald Trump took office in 2025, the CFPB's headquarters have been shuttered and some employees have been terminated, with prevailing uncertainty about the future of the agency and its open and future initiatives.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a federal regulatory agency whose mission is to protect consumers from harm caused by unfair, deceptive or abusive practices by financial companies. Since it began operating in 2011, the CFPB has fined or sued financial institutions over matters such as their overdraft practices, how they handle fraud and whether they're paying customers interest rates that were promised.

In 2025, President Donald Trump's administration has made some fundamental changes to the CFPB, including halting much of the agency's activity, so the fate of the consumer watchdog agency currently hangs in the balance.

What is the CFPB?

The CFPB is the government agency responsible for enforcing consumer financial laws, and it supervises banks and credit unions with assets over $10 billion, as well as nonbank mortgage originators and servicers, payday lenders and private student lenders.

Through fines the agency imposes, billions of dollars have been paid and returned to affected consumers, according to the CFPB website.

The CFPB also takes consumer complaints about issues in the financial marketplace. Each week, it receives more than 50,000 such complaints, which it forwards to companies for response. Most companies respond within 15 days, the agency reports.

History of the CFPB

The CFPB was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Passed during the Obama administration, the Dodd-Frank legislation sought to make the U.S. financial system safer for consumers by helping to prevent the type of acts that led to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

The global crisis occurred when the subprime mortgage lending market collapsed. At this time, the bubble burst that had been created due to risky lending practices. Parties considered responsible for the crisis include banks, investment banking firms, insurance companies, lenders and credit rating agencies.

Before the CFPB existed, consumer protection responsibilities fell under seven different federal agencies. The CFPB brings all aspects under a single director who is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate.

Since its inception, the CFPB enforcement actions have resulted in $19.7 billion in compensation, canceled debts and principal reductions for consumers -- as well as $5 billion in civil money penalties -- according to the agency's website.

Recent CFPB developments

Since President Trump was inaugurated in January 2025, his administration has made significant changes to the CFPB. Director Rohit Chopra, who served as director of the agency since 2021, was fired less than two weeks after Trump took office.

Since Chopra's departure, Acting Director Russell Vought shuttered the agency's headquarters and directed staff to stop nearly all of its work. The agency also dropped various lawsuits it had recently initiated, including one against Capital One over its savings account rates and another against banks that run Zelle (a peer-to-peer payment service) over claims of fraud.

On Feb. 8, Vought posted on social media that he'd notified the Federal Reserve that the CFPB would not be drawing funding for the fiscal quarter starting in April because"it is not 'reasonably necessary' to carry out its duties." On March 14, a judge rejected a bid by the City of Baltimore to halt the defunding of the CFPB.

On the same day, however, another judge in Maryland issued a ruling in a different lawsuit that the CFPB must temporarily rehire dozens of probationary employees who had been terminated last month, stating the firings were unlawful because advance notice was not given.

As of this writing, the ultimate fate of the CFPB remains unknown, with frequent new developments in play.

Prominent CFPB rules and lawsuits

The CFPB has initiated various rules, lawsuits and fines since its 2010 inception. Examples of such actions, and the groups impacted by them, include:

• Creditors and credit reporting agencies: The CFPB finalized a rule in January 2025 to bar creditors from considering consumers' medical debt when determining credit eligibility. The rule also prohibits credit reporting agencies from including medical bills on credit reports provided to lenders.
• Capital One: In January 2025, the CFPB sued Capital One over its high-yield savings account rates, asserting the bank froze the rate of one of its savings accounts at a low level, while not notifying those account holders of a newer, higher-yielding savings account product. The following month, the CFPB dropped the lawsuit.
• Zelle: In December 2024, the CFPB sued the operator of Zelle, along with Bank of America ( BAC ), Chase and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) (three of its owner banks) for what the agency described as their failure to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the peer-to-peer payment network, resulting in consumer losses of more than $870 million. The suit was subsequently dropped in early 2025.
• Banking institutions that charge overdraft fees: In December 2024, the CFPB finalized a rule regarding big banks and overdraft fees. It allows them multiple options, including charging a per-overdraft fee that doesn't exceed $5 or to charge a courtesy fee that covers no more than costs or losses.
• Banks and financial services providers: In October 2024, the CFPB finalized the Personal Financial Data Rights rule, which requires financial institutions to share a consumer's personal financial data with other providers, at the consumer's request. The rule could help facilitate open banking processes that allow consumers to switch banking institutions and make use of money management tools.
• Citibank: The CFPB fined Citibank in 2023 for allegedly discriminating against certain credit card applicants based on their national origin. It ordered the bank to pay more than $25 million in penalties and consumer redress.
• Wells Fargo ( WFC ): In 2022, the CFPB fined Wells Fargo ( WFC ) $3.7 billion for mismanagement of auto loans, mortgages and deposit accounts. The fine included $205 million for "illegal surprise overdraft fees."
• Regions Bank: The CFPB ordered Regions Bank to pay $191 million in 2022 for charging "illegal surprise overdraft fees" between August 2018 and July 2021.
• TD Bank: In 2020, the CFPB announced TD Bank would pay $122 million in fines and restitution in a settlement regarding the bank's marketing and sale of an optional overdraft service. The agency said the bank illegally charged overdraft fees for ATM and debit card transactions without obtaining consumers' affirmative consent.
• PayPal ( PYPL ): In 2015, the agency ordered PayPal ( PYPL ) to refund $15 million to consumers and pay a $10 million fine for allegedly signing up consumers illegally for its online credit product, PayPal Credit.

How the CFPB can help you

If the CFPB continues to function, it could help you get an answer to a complaint.

If you feel you're the victim of a financial scam or other unfair practices, and you've contacted the company involved directly without a reasonable answer, filing a complaint with the CFPB could be your next step.

Once you submit your complaint, the CFPB will send it directly to the company. Companies usually respond within 15 days, according to the CFPB. The agency also publishes information regarding your complaint (without identifying you) in its consumer complaint database.

The CFPB forwards complaints elsewhere when it feels another agency would be better suited to assist in a complaint.

Bottom line

Since 2011, the CFPB has been a watchdog agency consumers can turn to when they feel they've been wronged by banks, lenders or other providers in the financial services industry. Consumers can submit a complaint form on the agency's website for help in seeking restitution or compensation. The agency also imposes fines upon companies it deems have broken federal law, often returning the collected money to consumers. The fate of the CFPB currently hangs in the balance, however, as the Trump administration has been making structural changes to the agency.

FAQ

• What powers does the CFPB have? The Dodd-Frank Act gives the CFPB the power to implement and enforce laws involving consumer protection. The agency also collects consumer complaints and provides financial education. In the CFPB's regulatory role, it can take action against providers of financial services such as deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages and other types of loans.
• Why am I getting a letter from CFPB?

  You could receive a claim form from the CFPB in the mail, or the CFPB may request you complete a claim form online. The purpose of this form may be to gather additional documentation to verify your eligibility for a redress payment.

  For other matters, the CFPB sometimes sends warning letters to let people know that certain actions may be in violation of federal consumer financial law.

• Are CFPB complaints taken seriously? When complaints are filed with the CFPB, companies generally respond within 15 days, according to the CFPB website. When you file the complaint on the CFPB website, the CFPB then submits the complaint to the company so it can review it and respond. If the CFPB isn't able to send the complaint to the company, it sends it to another federal agency.
• What did the Trump administration do to the CFPB? President Trump's administration fired CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and closed the agency's headquarters in the weeks after Trump was inaugurated. Officials also directed the CFPB's staff to stop much of their work, and they terminated some of the agency's employees. The CFPB also dropped some of its pending litigation, such as lawsuits against Capital One and Zelle. The fate of the CFPB is currently being litigated and its fate and future uncertain, as of March 2025.