Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU—Coalition urges Congress to preserve CFPB’s funding, single director structure, (Feb 25, 2026)

By Colleen M. Svelnis, J.D.

Eighty-one consumer and advocacy groups urge Senate Banking Committee leadership to maintain the CFPB’s independent funding as well as its single director model.

A coalition of 81 national and state community, consumer protection, and advocacy organizations, has sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to affirm the dedicated funding and the single independent director structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The letter, addressed to Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), notes that the CFPB was designed by Congress “to stand up for the public interest” and take on powerful corporate interests. The coalition says altering these features would make it easier for “bad actors” to break the law and harder for families to make ends meet.

Over the past year, according to the letter, there have been “countless attacks” on the CFPB, “the only agency with the sole mission to protect people from financial abuse like illegal overdraft fees, sky-high credit card late fees, and scams that target older people and members of the military.”

According to the letter, the Bureau’s “work and mission are currently under attack through dropped enforcement cases, rollbacks of consumer protections, mass illegal firings, and stop work orders. These efforts compound the affordability crises most people are facing by adding higher interest costs and junk fees that make it harder to make ends meet.” The groups state that instead of letting the CFPB do its job, there have been waves of firings, rolled back enforcement actions, and funding cuts. The urge the legislators to “fight for an effective” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and oppose legislation that would weaken the agency’s funding model or leadership structure.

“Wall Street and Silicon Valley would like nothing more than to take down the agency that safeguards the financial security of everyday families and make it easier to rip people off without consequences,” said Tom Feltner, associate director of consumer policy at the Americans for Financial Reform, one of the groups who have signed the letter. “The CFPB needs the funding and independent leadership to protect people from the debt traps, junk fees, and scams that make everything more expensive.”

Without a stable funding stream and single director structure, which the Supreme Court previously ruled were constitutional, the agency would be vulnerable to the retaliation of the financial firms and their industry friendly allies. Congress required that the Federal Reserve fund the CFPB. It also required that the agency be led by a single director who is accountable to Congress and the President to enable the CFPB to vigorously enforce the laws that protect the financial security of everyday people.

The groups ask Congress to do the following:

1. Maintain the CFPB’s independent funding: The groups press Congress to keep the Bureau’s mandatory funding stream—drawn from the Federal Reserve—and to restore the benchmark level to 12% as a compulsory draw.

2. Keep the single director model: The groups oppose efforts to replace the CFPB’s leadership with a commission, arguing that a single director has enabled the agency to fulfill its public interest mission and is consistent with leadership structures at OCC, FHFA, and SSA.

CFPB enforcement efforts. The groups stress that since its creation through 2025, the CFPB has “obtained $21 billion in relief for over 200 million people” and delivered additional savings through supervision and enforcement. The letter highlights the Bureau’s enforcement activities, including:

• $363 million returned to servicemembers and veterans through 39 enforcement actions, including Military Lending Act matters.

• fair lending Settlements in redlining and discriminatory auto lending and credit card cases under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

• More than $5 billion in student loan borrower relief; $5.5 million in student debt relief tied to predatory practices; and $60 million to 77,000 servicemembers overcharged by Sallie Mae.

• Measures to promote sustainable mortgages, foreclosure avoidance procedures, fair lending enforcement, crackdowns on unlawful debt collection, and safeguards for privacy and error remediation—including on digital payment platforms.

The letter concludes by stating that “Members of Congress must stand up vigorously to the unlawful effort to dismantle the CFPB, and not compromise with an administration focused on letting wealthy corporations prey upon everyday families struggling to make ends meet.”

Companies: The Academy of Financial Education; Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc.; Alaska Public Interest Research Group; Americans for Financial Reform; Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending; California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform; California Consumer Protection Attorneys Association; CASH Campaign of Maryland; Center for Economic Integrity; Center for Justice & Democracy; Center for Responsible Lending; Citizens Action Coalition of IN; The Collaborative Colorado Fiscal Institute; Community Catalyst; Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM); Connecticut Fair Housing Center; Consumer Action; Consumer Attorney; Consumer Federation of America; Consumer Reports; Consumer Watchdog; Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety; DC Consumer Rights Coalition; Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council; East Bay Community Law Center; Economic Action Maryland Fund; Economic Empowerment Center DBA Lending Link; Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); Empire Justice Center; Fair Finance Watch; Georgia Watch; Greenbound Consulting LLC; The Greenlining Institute; Hip Hop Caucus; Housing and Economic Rights Advocates; Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute; JustLeadershipUSA; Kids and Car Safety; The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Legal Aid DC; Louisiana Progress; Maine Center for Economic Policy; Massachusetts Action for Justice; MDC; Memphis Public Interest Law Center; The Milestone Foundation; Mobilization for Justice; National Association of Consumer Advocates; The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD); National Community Reinvestment Coalition; National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients); National Consumers League; National Fair Housing Alliance; New Economy Project; New Jersey Citizen Action; New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; New York Legal Assistance Group; New Yorkers for Responsible Lending; North Carolina Justice Center; Oregon Consumer Justice; Philadelphia Solar Energy Association; Philadelphia VIP; Project GREEN; Prosperity Indiana; Protect Borrowers; Public Citizen; Public Good Law Center; Public Justice; Reinvestment Partners; Rise Economy; South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; TechTonic Justice; Texas Appleseed; Tzedek DC; U.S. PIRG; Vermont Legal Aid; Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY, Inc.; Western Center on Law & Poverty; Woodstock Institute

LegislativeActivity: CFPB DirectorsOfficersEmployers CommunityDevelopment OversightInvestigations