CFPB HQ Shuts Down as Vought Freezes Enforcement

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new boss has put a hold on consumer protections.

Workers at the financial regulator will work from home this week while their headquarters are closed down, CNBC reported Sunday (Feb. 9).  That shutdown lasts through Feb. 14, the report said,  the same day a judge is scheduled to hold a hearing involving Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to Treasury Department data.

That news came one day after an email from the bureau’s acting director told workers to halt “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement,” more or less shutting down the CFPB’s operations, The New York Times (NYT) reported.

Russell Vought, who is also head of the Office of Management and Budget, was appointed acting director of the CFPB on Friday (Feb. 7).

The NYT report noted that this message reasserted previous orders from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — who had briefly also served as CFPB director — telling staff not to issue new rules or guidance and end all investigations.

“As acting director, I am committed to implementing the president’s policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the bureau’s resources,” Vought wrote in the email, which was obtained by NYT.

The changes come just days after President Donald Trump fired Rohit Chopra, the CFPB’s previous director.

While it would take an act of Congress to shutter the 14-year-old CFPB, the report adds, its director can freeze its actions by stopping enforcement, repealing or weakening regulations and stepping away from bank oversight activity.

Vought said on X Saturday that the CFPB has an “excessive” balance of $711.6 million, and as such, he had notified the Federal Reserve that he wouldn’t take more funding for the bureau because it is not ‘reasonably necessary.’”

“This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” Vought said.

Meanwhile, the union representing CFPB employees said that Musk’s DOGE had improper access to the bureau’s systems, Reuters reported. 

That report said 100 people joined in a protest Saturday outside CFPB headquarters, chanting slogans and carrying signs accusing Musk and Trump of subverting democracy. The protest drew honks of support from drivers passing by, the report added.

As PYMNTS wrote last week, when it comes to how the fate of the CFPB relates to payments, “there is some measure of uncertainty as to what is changing, what will stay the same and whether the rules may take effect at all.”

For example, the CFPB last month issued a final rule aimed at removing $49 billion in medical debt from more than 15 million Americans’ credit reports. 

And in December, the bureau adopted a rule reshaping overdraft fees levied by financial institutions. Lenders must now choose among three options for their overdraft programs: limiting overdraft fees at $5; set fees to cover only costs and losses; or adhere to standard lending laws, including interest rate disclosures.

Also in December, the CFPB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would define data brokers as consumer reporting agencies. As such, these brokers would be subject to the rules of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, with restrictions on how and when they can collect and use consumers’ data. 

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