During his first term, #Trump was hell-bent on eviscerating the authority of an agency that #Congress authorized to protect #consumers after the 2008 financial crisis. His choice to lead the agency in 2017 signaled his disdain: Mick Mulvaney, a fmr congressman who voted to abolish the #CFPB.

…But consumers needed then — & need now — a powerful advocate.

#law #economy #regulation #banks #credit #loans #mortgages #foreclosures #debt #housing #markets #Musk #DOGE #USpol

When harmed, the average #consumer often doesn’t have the #money to defend themself. Hiring an attorney is expensive. Rooting out deceptive predatory practices should be left to the #government, not a family trying to make ends meet.

Remember the Great #Recession?

#CFPB #Trump #Musk #DOGE #law #economy #regulation #banks #credit #loans #mortgages #foreclosures #debt #housing #markets #USpol

Recall how big businesses’ reckless behavior sent our #economy & the #housing market into a financial tailspin? People lost their #homes & #jobs. Fearing even greater declines, many investors cashed out of the #StockMarket, locking in losses they never recovered.

It took the #recession & a wave of #foreclosures before #Congress acted to require simpler mortgage-disclosure forms. That task was assigned to the #CFPB, the brainchild of Sen #ElizabethWarren (D-MA).

#Trump #Musk #DOGE #law #USpol

“Since its founding, the #CFPB has returned over $21B directly to #consumers. It’s helped #ServiceMembers who have been ripped off by unscrupulous lenders. It’s helped borrowers whose #StudentLoan servicers treated them unfairly; it’s helped families that have been scammed; & it’s helped thousands of Americans that have been charged extortionate fees by big #banks & other financial services providers,” Sen #ElizabethWarren said during a hearing this week.

#Trump #Musk #DOGE #law #regulation

In one of its final actions under the #Biden admin, for example, the #CFPB filed a lawsuit on Jan 14 against #CapitalOne, alleging the financial institution misrepresented its “360 Savings” accounts, effectively “cheating consumers out of more than $2B in interest payments.”

#Trump #Musk #DOGE #law #economy #regulation #banks #credit #loans #mortgages #foreclosures #debt #housing #markets #USpol #kleptocracy #plutocracy
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-sues-capital-one-for-cheating-consumers-out-of-more-than-2-billion-in-interest-payments-on-savings-accounts/

A month earlier, the #CFPB filed a lawsuit against #RocketHomes Real Estate, alleging that the company incentivized real estate brokers & agents to steer home buyers to #RocketMortgage.

“At a time when #homeownership feels out of reach for so many, companies should not illegally block competition in ways that drive up the cost of #housing,” said then-CFPB Dir Rohit Chopra in announcing the action.

#Trump #Musk #law #economy #regulation #banks #credit #loans #kleptocracy
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-files-lawsuit-to-stop-illegal-kickback-scheme-to-steer-borrowers-to-rocket-mortgage/

But on Thurs, the #Trump #CFPB dropped several complaints against financial institutions, including the ones for #CapitalOne & #RocketHomes.

“We welcome the CFPB’s decision to dismiss this action, which we strongly disputed,” a spokesperson for Capital One said in an emailed statement.

In a statement, Rocket Homes said: “This case was a misrepresentation of the facts, as we have said from the day the suit was filed.”

#consumer #Musk #law #economy #regulation #banks #credit #loans #kleptocracy

The dismissed cases “underscore why the #CFPB’s work is so essential to investigate practices that are draining hard-earned #money from the pockets of everyday people,” Lauren Saunders, assoc dir of the Natl Consumer #Law Center, said….

The CFPB’s #consumer-complaint system is already suffering. #Senate #Banking Cmte #Democrats released a report Tues that found an 80% drop in the processing of consumer complaints in the first weeks of the #Trump admin.

#Musk #economy #regulation #kleptocracy