Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU—Congressional report shows Trump changes to CFPB cost taxpayers billions, (Feb 10, 2026)

By Carrie DeLeon

A report released on the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s efforts to severely downsize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows that the agency has abandoned consumer complaints, dismissed enforcement actions, and rescinded rules, costing Americans billions in financial relief and causing further harm to consumers.

According to the report released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, since the administration began dismantling the agency one year ago, the CFPB has “dismissed or withdrawn from 22 enforcement actions; withdrawn at least 67 guidance documents; overturned, dismissed, or sought vacatur of six rules; forfeited or withheld 23 established settlements or consent orders; and handed off all remaining enforcement matters to the DOJ.”

“Donald Trump promised to lower costs for Americans ‘On Day One.’ Instead, he is trying to shut down an agency that protects Americans from getting scammed out of their money by big banks and giant corporations,” Warren said in a statement. “As a result, Trump’s attempt to sideline the CFPB has cost families billions of dollars over the last year alone.”

The administration assumed control of the CFPB in February 2025 and appointed White House budget director Russell Vought as acting director. Since then, Vought has ordered staff to stop working, and the agency’s budget was cut in half by Congress. The report finds that in the last year, critical rules were dismissed, few new investigations have been opened, and existing settlements and consent orders were undone.

Specifically, the report highlights the dismissal of an enforcement action against Capital One Bank, worth about $2 billion. The suit against Capital One alleged that the bank cheated families out of billions of dollars on their savings accounts. The CFPB also dropped enforcement actions related to allegations against a mortgage lender who “trapped” consumers in unaffordable loans; Walmart and a fintech company for imposing mandatory fees on employees who tried to transfer their own pay; and a bank that charged illegal ATM fees to customers. The report estimates that the total consumer harm from these actions was at least $3.5 billion.

Acting Director Vought also dropped or terminated 23 consent orders and settlements—including four consent orders or settlements that would have provided up to $125 million to consumers if fully enforced, according to the report. In addition, the report estimates that rules overturned by Congressional Republicans would have saved consumers up to $15 billion a year.

In addition, the Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration overturned a 2024 rule approved by the CFPB that sought to limit the overdraft fees that could be charged to many customers to $5 and would have saved Americans up to $5 billion annually. Some banks are still charging customers overdraft fees of $35 even if overdraft was only a few dollars, according to the report.

Companies: Capital One Bank; Walmart

LegislativeActivity: BankingOperations CFPB DoddFrankAct EnforcementActions FinancialStability OversightInvestigations