What is it with the leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency and making comments about the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during holidays? After Elon Musk proposed deleting the CFPB during the Thanksgiving Day weekend, his DOGE compatriot, Vivek Ramaswamy on the day after Christmas released a post on social media saying that the CFPB’s policies have harmed consumers and that its overreach needs to be nullified. It’s the latest comment stirring the pot over the future of the Bureau, with President-elect Trump set to take office in less than a month.
Ramaswamy’s comments were directed at a final rule that was issued by the CFPB earlier this month which will cap the amount of overdraft fees that banks can charge consumers. The new rule is expected to save each household in America up to $225 per year, for a total savings of $5 billion.
In response, a spokesperson for the CFPB said, “The CFPB has heard from tens of thousands of Americans who are sick and tired of paying billions in junk fees. This rule is common sense and long overdue, and it’s unclear why big banks are scared to be transparent with their customers about the interest rate they’re charging on overdraft loans.”
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra has questioned why anyone would want to get rid of the Bureau, saying that he wondered why anyone would want financial crime, while also asking who would do the CFPB’s job if the Bureau were eliminated.
The CFPB has been incredibly active this month, launching enforcement actions against titans of industry like Walmart and Bank of America, publishing a new Supervisory Highlights on student loan debt collection, initiating rulemakings related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and moving forward with its medical debt credit reporting rule.
