Disaster 2025 > Going to hell in a handbasket
Let’s Talk about the CFPB — And why you should be very upset.
Our Dear Leader (/s) is in the process of shuttering yet another public service that he believes is a waste of funding. What’s on the chopping block today? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
It’s easy to connect the dots and figure out why the CFPB is being shuttered. Trump and Musk, along with the banking and finance lobby and all of the world’s bakers and financers, don’t want to be investigated. Pure and simple, nothing else. They think their protection is more important than the American people’s protection.
If the government is meant for anything, it’s for protecting its citizens from danger. The CFPB is literally the agency that protects Americans from the bad guys. Point of reference: The military protects the country from bad guys, not the people.
Why does this agency matter?
Maybe you haven’t heard of this part of the government. It’s one of the many parts of the government you don’t know is there until you need it. Allow me to repeat myself:
The CFPB is literally the agency that protects Americans from the bad guys.
Check out this video from the CFPB, from two weeks ago, when the agency reached 10 million complaints. That’s 10 MILLION Americans who have been abused by financial entities and hope that the government will come to their rescue. (Keep scrolling to see a breakdown on the 1 million complaints from just the past three months.)
The agency has many other videos worth watching — maybe with your Boomer parents and grandparents, especially those who voted Trump. Just sayin’. CFPB’s YouTube channel…
So, first questions first: What is the CFPB?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a U.S. government agency dedicated to assisting Americans with a wide range of financial needs. It provides valuable resources and tools to educate consumers, empowering them to understand financial products and services, make informed decisions, and ultimately improve their financial well-being.
A key function of the CFPB is handling consumer complaints. It offers a platform for individuals to submit complaints about financial products or services, which the CFPB then forwards to the relevant companies, working to ensure a response and resolution.
Furthermore, the CFPB enforces federal consumer financial laws, taking action against companies that engage in violations. This includes investigations, fines, and orders for companies to correct harmful practices, thereby protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.
The CFPB also develops and implements rules to safeguard consumers in the financial sector, addressing issues like mortgage lending, debt collection, credit reporting, and privacy. Through research and monitoring of consumer financial markets, the CFPB identifies potential risks and emerging issues, enabling agents to develop effective solutions and ensure a fair and transparent financial marketplace.
Imagine an elderly couple, both over 70, who are struggling to manage their finances. They’ve been targeted by a predatory lender offering a reverse mortgage with confusing and misleading terms. The lender downplays the fees, exaggerates the benefits, and doesn’t clearly explain the complex repayment structure. The couple, trusting the lender’s seemingly friendly demeanor, takes out the reverse mortgage. Later, they find themselves facing unexpected financial strain as the hidden fees accumulate and the loan terms become difficult to manage. They risk losing their home.
This is where the CFPB can help. The couple, or a family member on their behalf, could file a complaint with the CFPB. The CFPB would then investigate the lender’s practices. If they find that the lender engaged in deceptive or unfair practices, they can take enforcement action. This might include fines against the lender, orders to correct their practices, and even restitution for the elderly couple. Additionally, the CFPB’s educational resources, such as guides on reverse mortgages and avoiding financial scams, could help other seniors avoid similar situations. The CFPB also monitors trends in financial products marketed to seniors, allowing them to identify and address systemic issues that might disproportionately affect older individuals. By enforcing regulations and providing education, the CFPB helps protect vulnerable populations, like older adults, from predatory financial practices and ensures a fairer marketplace.
Sounds useful, right? States usually have a fraud protection agency as well. It might be part of the state’s office of the attorney general, or part of an agency in charge of business licenses and investigations. I like to think of these agencies as “hugs” from the government.
And now President Dictator Trump and Right-hand Stooge Musk want to take all that protection away. “Dictator on Day 1” is what the Trump supporters voted for. They voted for his “policies” not the man. Well, guys, you got ’em!
Trump’s nominee Russell Vought was confirmed Friday, February 7, 2025, and now he’s in charge of the department. Today, February 9, 2025, his first duty of business, send an email that orders staff to “cease all supervision and examination activity.”
Choose your news: PBS / Newsweek / BBC / Times of India / The Guardian
Did I mention that all this news is coming out while the NFL’s Super Bowl LIX is getting ramped up to start? Kansas City Chiefs versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Game time is 6:30. Mainstream media started releasing articles around noon. They think no one will notice.
I’m going to try to take down info direct from the website before it gets taken offline or the documents disappear.
CFPB By the numbers
Everyone likes numbers.
Fast Facts: CFPB by the Numbers
Last updated: December 3, 2024
- $21 billion+: Amount of monetary compensation, principal reductions, canceled debts, and other consumer relief resulting from CFPB enforcement ($19 billion) and supervisory ($1.7 billion) work.
- 205 million+: Estimated number of consumers or consumer accounts eligible to receive relief from the CFPB’s enforcement and supervisory work.
- $5 billion+: Civil money penalties imposed by the CFPB on companies and individuals that violate the law. Civil money penalties are deposited into the CFPB’s victims relief fund (also known as the civil penalty fund), which provides compensation to consumers who have been harmed by violations of federal consumer financial protection law.
- $6.1 billion: Estimated amount consumers will save every year due to recent changes in banks’ overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee policies. The CFPB’s most recent analysis found that the decision of most large banks to eliminate NSF fees will save consumers nearly $2 billion annually.
- $363 million: Monetary relief resulting from 39 public enforcement actions that involved harm to servicemembers and veterans, including six enforcement actions for violations of the Military Lending Act.
- 22.8 million: The estimated number of people expected to have had at least one medical collection removed from their credit reports after the three nationwide consumer reporting companies announced
- the removal of medical collections under $500 from consumer credit reports in April 2023. In March 2022, the CFPB released a report drawing attention to the complicated and burdensome nature of the medical billing system in the United States.
- 6.8 million+: Consumer complaints sent to companies for response,1 including 4.6 million+ complaints about credit reporting, 83,000+ complaints about medical debt collection, and 96,000+ complaints about student loans.
- 63 million+: Approximate number of users who have accessed answers to hundreds of common financial questions via the CFPB’s “Ask CFPB” database.
- 35: Number of Supervisory Highlights issued. These reports include key examination findings, communicate operational changes to the CFPB’s supervision program, and provide a resource for information on our recent guidance documents.
- 8: Number of languages that CFPB provides translated consumer-facing materials in, including: Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Consumers can also submit a complaint on the phone in more than 180 languages.
Is this agency being used?
Damn straight it is. In just the last month (January 2025) there have been over 350,000 complaints made to the agency by Americans. I’d like to remind you that new director Russel Vought has ordered all investigation END. CEASE. STOP.
Let’s go back to the last quarter of 2024, October through December, Q4. Only over 800,000 complaints made. (Keep reading to see the breakdown of the now almost 900,000 complaints from the past three months, Nov 8 2024 thru Feb 8 2025.) Hope you or your granny aren’t hoping for a quick response from the government. Cause ya’ll aren’t going to get it.
Thank your local Trump supporter for that one, and your senators and representatives. Give them all a round of applause.
Forget about how many thousands of Americans hope for support from this agency. Focus on how the number is steadily increasing over time. It appears that between April and July 2023, the agency redefined the categories, and the light green line should actually merge with the dark green line as if it is one steady line.
Why the heck was there such a small increase between April 2022 and October 2023, compared to then to now??
Something is very, very wrong.
Complaint Breakdown
Shall we look at what problems Americans are reporting? Keep in mind that this agency helps in investigating financial problems, like with banks, credit cards, mortgage lenders, and apparently also digital currency wallet transfer services, international wire services, debt collectors, and loan collectors. Numbers come from a three month period, October 2024 thru February 2025.
Date range: 11/8/2024 – 02/08/2025
The type of product and sub-product the consumer identified in the complaint
884,053
880,052
4,001
50,100
43,849
3,927
1,439
499
206
123
57
48,878
I do not know 25,943
Credit card debt 7,253
Other debt 7,156
Telecommunications debt 2,240
Rental debt 2,011
Medical debt 1,827
Auto debt 1,491
Payday loan debt 517
Private student loan debt 151
Mortgage debt 145
Federal student loan debt 144
25,350
21,773
1,740
1,454
383
19,222
17,467
1,755
4,723
2,825
799
454
358
115
76
59
37
3,719
2,978
741
3,717
3,254
463
2,303
1,236
459
368
165
40
18
12
5
1,649
973
362
254
58
2
1,213
760
415
29
9
The current Consumer Protection Bureau also provides details on the types of issues consumers are complaining about.
Issue Breakdown
The bureau also notes the kinds of issues people are complaining about. Numbers come from a three month period, October 2024 thru February 2025.
Looking at the data (forgive me — I’ll clean it up in a minute), many of the issues are administrative, like fixing information. However, people generally only notice issues when they need their report to reflect their situation correctly. They’re likely in the process of making a large purchase or doing something life-changing. These administrative issues are important.
The current Consumer Protection Bureau also provides details on the types of issues consumers are complaining about.
Date range: 11/8/2024 – 02/08/2025
The type of issue and sub-issue the consumer identified in the complaint
482,057
294,364
96,958
51,626
23,960
4,984
4,974
4,668
337
186
226,627
153,953
70,815
1,638
221
175,423
106,810
46,161
11,559
7,1013,792
41,577
20,884
12,145
6,387
1,804
548
11,905
5,888
1,659
1,236
1,193
697
688
211
177
115
23
18
11,266
5,721
3,399
2,146
9,133
8,672
210
200
51
8,384
7,619
500
134
131
4,536
3,315
406
339
167
111
109
80
9
3,310
2,409
795
106
3,102
2,382
720
2,938
2,651
880
634
510
159
154
114
113
45
42
2,335
805
712
301
299
146
47
25
2,296
1,567
498
93
82
56
2,222
868
662
444
159
89
2,016
1,892
891
621
319
61
1,852
941
622
197
92
1,748
1,383
235
130
1,681
993
511
177
1,651
821
338
152
146
102
42
32
13
5
1,403
1,329
512
481
273
63
1,328
932
140
1,180
1,178
1,138
885
253
1,045
437
234
228
146
1,029
458
174
163
145
89
1,020
640
160
85
57
49
29
940
326
112
105
90
84
81
69
44
29
932
775
53
33
26
25
13
4
3
755
424
256
45
30
597
356
241
591
588
182
175
91
49
32
28
17
11
3
576
402
156
18
546
509
324
54
52
40
39
479
209
117
57
34
27
23
9
3
463
108
97
71
64
45
31
28
19
452
263
117
67
5
444
430
159
24
407
347
346
96
80
69
66
27
8
324
222
94
8
316
314
248
234
214
10
10
226
199
90
66
39
4
183
178
175
137
133
54
32
20
15
12
92
92
86
25
24
18
9
3
2
2
1
62
46
44
37
33
29
28
23
5
22
18
18
18
18
14
4
4
3
3
9
3
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
4
2
1
Overall…
I’m all for a streamlined government — but that’s a government that is transparent in its efforts of working for the people. The current administration, led by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, is not working for the people but for themselves, and their friends in the banking world.
It really is a pity that many Americans are unable to educate themselves and remain unaware of what their vote for Trump did for their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check out my latest video on YouTube!
Jenny Claire is an award-winning educational materials writer, travel journalist, and food critic, formerly based in New York City and Taiwan. She calls a cute cabin in the woods of rural North Central Florida home, but lately she’s been spending most of her time cruising and traveling. She also was a secret travel critic and writer — but her lips are sealed on those details!
Living the Sunshine Life