The Dismantling of a Watchdog

How the Trump Administration Undermined the CFPB…and Shifted the Cost to You

When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, its mission was simple: to protect ordinary Americans from financial abuses by powerful institutions. For a time, it worked. The agency returned billions to consumers, curbed predatory lending, and pushed for greater transparency across the financial sector.

But under President Donald Trump, that mission was not just paused; it was actively reversed.

According to a joint analysis released Tuesday by the Student Borrower Protection Center and the Consumer Federation of America, the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the CFPB have cost Americans at least $18 billion in higher fees and lost compensation.

Beginning in February of his term, Trump called for the agency’s elimination. His administration sought to slash the CFPB’s workforce by 90%, narrowed its oversight authority, and halted many of its most impactful enforcement actions. Officials accused the agency of overreach and bias, framing corporate accountability as a threat to free enterprise.

But what followed was a sharp transfer of financial burden from corporations to consumers.

Under President Biden, the CFPB had moved to cap credit card late fees at $8 and overdraft fees at $5. Trump’s reversal of these initiatives is expected to cost consumers $15 billion a year. The administration also dismissed 22 enforcement cases——actions originally brought against some of the nation’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Capital One——despite more than $3 billion in alleged consumer harm.

Settlements with companies like Toyota and a payments processor were quietly revised or scrapped, meaning about $50 million in promised restitution will never reach the people it was intended to help.

In dismantling the CFPB, the Trump administration did more than shrink a federal agency. It shifted power back to corporations and left American consumers to pay the price.