In declarations to federal court, CFPB employees describe a hasty process to eliminate most of the agency's staff. "[A]ll that matters is the numbers," one employee said they were told by leaders.
The temporary injunction issued by Judge Berman Jackson seeks to preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a lawsuit filed by the agency's union proceeds.
The ruling from a federal court in Washington, D.C., is — for now — a reprieve for CFPB staff who had been bracing for mass layoffs as early as Friday.
The edict comes as Russell Vought takes over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Vought has ordered work to halt at the consumer finance watchdog, and is cutting off new funding.
The staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was instructed by email to cease much of its work. Bessent, a wealthy Wall Street investor, replaces Rohit Chopra, who was fired on Saturday.
Rohit Chopra had led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2021. Consumer groups praised his leadership, while Republicans have frequently attacked the agency.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to move ahead with a long-stalled rule to protect borrowers from repeated attempts to collect loan payments from bank accounts with insufficient funds.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is requiring buy-now, pay-later lenders to provide the same protections to shoppers as credit card companies do.
The temporary injunction imposed by Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas is a win for the big banks and major credit card companies. The plan was set to go into effect next week.
Payday lenders argue that the CFPB's funding structure is unconstitutional because it's not funded by money appropriated by Congress. The argument threatens the existence of other agencies, too.
