The fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in doubt as the Trump administration has ordered staff to stop investigations and other work.
But CFPB says more than 303,000 Georgians have received more than $149 million from the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund since 2010.
Just since the New Year, Channel 2 Action News has reported on CFPB actions including a $40 million judgment against bankrupt Georgia-based car dealer US Auto Sales, an up to $120 million fund to pay customers who lost money to scammers and fraud through Cash App and a ruling keeping medical debt off credit reports.
The new medical debt rule means your credit score won’t be impacted by an expensive surgery or a procedure that your insurance refuses to pay.
Sarah Mancini is with the National Consumer Law Center.
“I think regular Georgians are very interested in being able to protect their credit even when they have a medical emergency or when they are disputing a medical bill and not have that ruin their entire financial life,” Mancini said.
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But right now, the front page of the CFPB’s website has a 404 page not found error.
Elon Musk tweeted simply earlier this month, “CFPB RIP” as the new acting director Russell Vought ordered all investigations by the CFPB stopped.
He posted a link on social media for companies to report CFPB employees who violate the work stoppage order.
The White House posted on its official site that the CFPB “Isn’t a Wall Street Regulator, It’s a Main Street Regulator.”
“I do believe there are bureaucracies that are weaponized against the American people,” Vought said in his senate confirmation hearing.
“The administration has shuttered this agency, which has returned to American consumers since it was created $21 billion that Americans were scammed out of,” said Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Our Channel 2 consumer advisor Clark Howard steers clear of politics but does routinely steer consumers looking for help with a problem at a big bank to the CFPB to file an official complaint.
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the only advocate on the consumer side when you have a problem with the bank,” Howard said.
It appears that CFPB is still accepting consumer complaints, but all investigative work is on hold.
Plans to fire large numbers of the workforce were paused by a federal judge on Friday as multiple lawsuits are now underway about the fate of the agency.
