(Bloomberg) — Less than two months ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was pumping out lawsuits against some of the world’s biggest firms, suing JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Walmart Inc. within a single week. On Monday, the agency’s headquarters were closed, staffers were told to work from home and its website bore a broken link.
After the Trump administration swiftly defanged the agency that was created following the great financial crisis, questions are swirling about the impact on the banks, credit card companies, loan servicers and nonbank financial-technology companies it has regulatory authority to oversee.
Americans hold more than $12.5 trillion in mortgage debt and $1.17 trillion in credit card balances as of the end of September – oversight of which is now uncertain.
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“It does peel back the ability to enforce all of the protections Congress put in place to ensure we don’t have another housing crisis,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, the former associate director of research, monitoring and regulations at the CFPB during the Biden administration. “The actions over the last week raise serious questions not just for consumers but also industry for how they can proceed.”
The move casts uncertainty over its supervision of banks, fintechs and payments companies. Future oversight of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.’s use of consumers’ financial data is in question along with next steps on Biden-era rules related to medical debt and buy now, pay later loans.
The White House said in a statement Monday the consumer watchdog has “long functioned as another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy” and acting director Russell Vought announced over the weekend the agency will “not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding.”
CFPB staffers have been ordered to change enforcement priorities and halt outside communication. It’s also paused supervision, actions that Margetta Morgan said leaves consumers unprotected.
“Those are the first lines of defense against scams and fraud and predatory behavior,” she said. It’s a “green light” to bad actors in the industry “to gear up their fraudulent and predatory activities.”
The Consumer Bankers Association applauded the move to “reboot” the CFPB, saying it will ensure strong consumer protection while also restoring credibility.
Gus Galá, an analyst with Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. Inc. said in a note to clients the changes at the CFPB are “a likely sentiment tailwind to fintechs,” with the actions suggesting less friction that could boost this dynamic in the near-term.
Another former official who spent nearly a decade at the agency said in a blog that the regulatory vacuum could also favor large, existing banks and nonbanks over community banks and credit unions.
“Without the CFPB, there would be no one policing these banks,” David Silberman, a former associate director for research, markets and regulations at the CFPB said in the post. “In contrast, community banks and credit unions would continue to be subject to compliance examinations and enforcement actions by their prudential regulators, who would continue to have the legal duty to monitor the compliance of the institutions within their jurisdiction.”
Lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, called for a rally on Monday outside of the agency’s now-shuttered headquarters to “demand answers regarding Elon Musk’s illegal CFPB takeover.”
Days earlier, Musk had posted an image of a gravestone following the message “CFPB RIP.”