The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is requiring nearly all of its roughly 1,100 employees to report to a new Washington, D.C. office by the end of August. The problem: the new office holds about 550 people. That gap, and the fact that it mirrors almost exactly a reduction-in-force plan the agency submitted to a federal appeals court in March, has employees and observers alike concluding that the math is the message.
According to an internal email obtained by Bloomberg Law, acting Director Russell Vought’s team is phasing in a return-to-office mandate that will eventually require even the 450 employees stationed outside the Washington area to relocate to a new Southwest D.C. location. The plan repeatedly notes it will be “subject to available office space” but stops short of spelling out what happens to workers who can’t or won’t make the move.
Employees don’t need it spelled out. Multiple agency insiders told Bloomberg, speaking anonymously, that the widespread belief inside the bureau is that the plan is designed to generate resignations and get around a potential court hold on the formal RIF proposal.
The CFPB’s union called it exactly that, “part of acting Director Vought’s long-term effort to drive workers out of public service and close the CFPB.”
A significantly smaller CFPB means fewer examiners, fewer enforcement actions, and less formal guidance. In the near term, reduced supervision may ease some compliance pressure. But less agency clarity also means more legal gray area, and companies that have built their compliance programs around CFPB expectations will need to think carefully about how much the agency’s footprint is actually shrinking and how durable that shrinkage is.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is currently weighing whether the agency can proceed with its workforce reduction plan at all, and could send the matter back to the district court which means the August 31 deadline may not hold.
What is clear is that Vought has been moving systematically. Since taking over in February 2025, the bureau has voluntarily dismissed roughly 20 lawsuits, closed about 40% of its pending investigations, terminated or scaled back settlements on fair lending and other issues, shuttered regional offices, and shifted examinations from in-person to virtual. The lease on the agency’s original headquarters near the White House has been terminated entirely.
The CFPB may look very different by Labor Day.
