One Hundred (and Three) Days of Trumpers at the CFPB

Donald Trump has been president for 103 days. In the three-and-a-half months from inauguration to now, he and a clique of billionaires, industry lobbyists and other assorted hangers-on have used their new role in government to make your life harder.

Americans for Financial Reform has taken stock of the administration’s ongoing attempt to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog that has won relief worth over $21 billion for everyday people from the financial actors that would take advantage of them. The bombardment from Elon Musk’s DOGE and Republican-led efforts on the Hill have only empowered Wall Street, Big Tech, and predatory lenders (and their investors, including at least one DOGE insider).

AFR prepared a detailed timeline of 100-plus days of sowing consumer chaos. Here are some of the unsavory lowlights:

February 1 (12 days in office): Trump fires CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is named acting CFPB director. Two days later, on February 3, Bessent ordered CFPB staff to halt enforcement, regulatory activity and communications.

On February 7 (18 days in office): One of the architects of Project 2025, Russell Vought, is installed as acting Director of CFPB. A day later, Vought ordered a halt to all supervision and examination, and canceled the agency’s quarterly funding request. At the time, the stop-work order prevented CFPB staff from helping 75 families at risk of imminent foreclosure.

On February 12 (23 days in office): Trump initiates mass layoffs at CFPB, firing all probationary employees. A February 14 injunction attempted to halt additional purges, but staff testified the statutorily required work was still stopped. Trump administration officials would later (on April 17, 87 days in office) attempt to fire 1,500 employees, despite the earlier injunction. A judge blocked the mass layoff again.

Between then and now, the CFPB dropped a litany of high-profile enforcement cases, and even reversed one that was settled, stemming from one Chicago mortgage lender’s alleged redlining and racist language. And Congress has since voted to overturn CFPB rules on overdrafts and Big Tech payment apps.

More recently, the agency has moved to drop a case against private student debt investors over allegedly illegal debt collection practices, which would have secured $2.25 million in relief to its borrowers. It also scrapped a case against subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corp. And, it lifted a consent order against repeat corporate offender Wells Fargo, which had racked up 12 federal consent orders and a Federal Reserve imposed asset cap for widespread regulatory and consumer protection compliance problems, including its notorious fake account scandal.

In the funding megabill, Republicans are angling to slash CFPB funding, approved by House Financial Services earlier this week, all to pay for giant tax cuts for the super-rich, corporations, and Wall Street private equity firms. Beyond the CFPB, even the Department of Justice announced that it would shut down the branch that pursues consumer fraud cases.

Happily, the CFPB employees union thwarted another effort at mass purges at the CFPB in court this week. On April 28, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for DC invalidated an effort by Vought to fire 1,500 of the agency’s roughly 1,700 people. It was a vivid demonstration of bad faith by Vought. On April 11, the DC Circuit had scaled back protections against firing at the Trump administration’s behest. But the sudden Reduction in Force (RIF) effort to purge so many people convinced the DC Circuit panel of judges — majority Trump-appointed! — that Vought could not be trusted.

State groups across the country have called to reject efforts to further gut consumer protections, and nearly 350 organizations and academics demanded action to restore a strong and independent CFPB. Said Patrick Woodall about the attempt to cut the CFPB’s funding draw by 70 percent:

Couching savage unraveling of industry oversight as necessary federal budgetary trimming is just a Wall Street wolf in sheep’s clothing. These attacks on the CFPB and the federal sentinels monitoring to stop the next financial crisis don’t really save money, they just give Wall Street banks and Main Street financial predators a get out of jail free card and put the entire economy at risk.

There is still time for sanity to prevail. The fight over the tax cut for billionaires funded by steeply slashing federal safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP, as well as dismantling the CFPB, is not over. Litigation is ongoing in the courts. But without the CFPB on the job every single day, consumers will lose.

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BANKING AND FINANCIAL STABILITY: A Fintech Failure — Auditing the Audits — An Illegal Ouster
CONSUMER: Medical Debt — PayPal — Trump’s Anti-Consumer Funding — Tipping Your Payday Lender? — Digital Wallets
CAPITAL MARKETS: Retiring — Shareholder Rights and Corporate Wrongs
PRIVATE MARKETS: Carried Interest — Private Equity and Healthcare — Private Equity and Childcare — Private Equity Downtown — Big Borrowing — Private Credit — Unendowed
CRYPTO: Not-So-Decentralized Finance — Crypto Casinos — Trump and Crypto — Crypto Unguided — How Long in Prison?
HOUSING: Getting Pulte’s Way — AI x HUD x DOGE — The Insurance Crisis — Protecting Veterans — Colony Ridge — Rural Housing
CLIMATE AND FINANCE: Tracking Private Equity — Get Net Zero

Feedback? Reach us at afrnews@ourfinancialsecurity.org

BANKING AND FINANCIAL STABILITY

A Fintech Failure.

Some of the largest banks and asset managers in the country failed to see it coming when a British financial technology firm, Stenn, into which they had pumped almost $1 billion, collapsed. And it’s unclear how investors will be impacted, since many of the company’s business dealings came from, and promptly disappeared into, thin air. The fintech claimed to collect debts large corporations purportedly owed to small firms. Investors could then buy securities backed by this debt collection. Many of the corporations from whom Stenn allegedly collected debts, such as the oil giant Repsol or medical manufacturer A&D Holon, claimed they had never conducted business with Stenn. And one business crime attorney flagged that the Stenn transaction had “all the hallmarks of both fraud and money laundering.”

Auditing the Audits.

Meanwhile, here in the States, the congressional leadership unveiled plans to fold the responsibilities of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) — the independent regulator that keeps an eye on public company audits to protect investors and market integrity — into the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reorganization would effectively make it less possible for the watchdog to perform its functions, like illegal activity checks. This week, a group of SEC officials, PCAOB advisory members and former auditors wrote to House Financial to oppose any attempt to eliminate the Board. But the House Financial Services Committee passed this as part of the legislation to dismantle the CFPB and pay for tax breaks for billionaires.

An Illegal Ouster.

Tanya Otsuka and Todd Harper, the two former Democratic members of the National Credit Union Administration board, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for unlawfully ejecting them from their positions as part of the administration’s attack on independent agencies. The two seek their reinstatement and call into question any actions since made by the single remaining board member, Kyle Hauptman, as the institution is meant to be led by a three-person body. House Financial’s Ranking Member Rep. Waters supports the lawsuit, backing their effort to protect the funds of the more than 142 million credit union members across the country.

CONSUMER

Medical Debt.

A recent article by Mona Shah in Open Banker highlights the critical importance of the CFPB rule to remove medical debt from credit reports. This rule, finalized in January 2025, aims to prevent medical debt—which often results from unforeseen emergencies and billing errors—from negatively impacting individuals' credit scores. Shah emphasizes that medical debt is an unreliable indicator of creditworthiness and that its inclusion in credit reports can deter people from seeking necessary medical care due to financial fears. Efforts to destroy this rule in the courts or using the Congressional Review Act would exacerbate the financial strain on millions of Americans, particularly those already burdened by medical expenses.

PayPal.

In a recent AFR blog post, Christine Chen Zinner criticized the CFPB’s decision to drop its case against PayPal for circumventing prepaid card disclosure rules. The CFPB's 2019 rule mandates that prepaid accounts and cards provide disclosures about fees and FDIC insurance coverage. PayPal challenged this rule. Previously, both the initial Trump-era CFPB and the Chopra-led CFPB supported equal application of these disclosures to digital wallets and physical prepaid cards. However, the current CFPB leadership reversed this stance, aligning with PayPal and withdrawing the case. Zinner highlights that this is just another giveaway to major tech figures, like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.​

Trump’s Anti-Consumer Funding.

A recent investigation by Accountable.US revealed that the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee received $8 million in donations from entities previously fined, investigated, or critical of the CFPB. These donors include major players in Big Tech and Wall Street, such as Meta, Google, Apple, and Goldman Sachs. Following these contributions, the Trump administration has actively sought to dismantle the CFPB, including dismissing lawsuits against financial institutions and scaling back oversight of digital payment platforms.

Tipping Your Payday Lender?

How often would you knowingly slip your local high-cost lender — the kind that hawks a loan with an average 400 percent APR — a tip for their service? If you used one of the earned-wage advance apps like those sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James this month, or many of the others that relentlessly ask you for tips, you might be paying extra 73 percent of the time. The National Consumer Law Center explored how one of these apps, EarnIn, subjected the average user to 17 messages about tipping and required 13 additional clicks to receive an advance without one.

Speaking of EarnIn: When the company tried to get a case over alleged violations of Georgia’s Payday Loan Act and the Truth in Lending Act dismissed, the court identified the advance products as loans under Georgia law and credit under TILA, allowing the case to move forward.

Digital Wallets.

In a new report, Raising the Bar on Digital Wallets, Consumer Reports evaluates the safety and privacy of major digital wallets, the virtual money-holding platforms that generally allow customers to make contactless payments and transfer money between friends and family. In an analysis of wallets offered by Apple, Cash App, Google, PayPal, Samsung, and Venmo, the group found, among other things, that the companies may overstep how they use sensitive information, fail to transparently explain the risks of using the services, and make users agree to unfair terms, like arbitration clauses.

CAPITAL MARKETS

Retiring.

In its April 2025 statement to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, AFREF emphasized the importance of preserving the Department of Labor’s 2022 rule that clarifies that pension fund fiduciaries are allowed to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions, and consider benefits to plan participants in addition to financial returns when the investments would equally serve the financial interests of the plan. AFREF argues that this rule is essential for safeguarding the $12 trillion in assets that workers rely on for retirement. The statement highlights that ESG considerations are not only relevant but often necessary for prudent risk assessment and long-term financial returns. Despite facing legal and political challenges, including potential rescission by the current administration, AFREF contends that the rule aligns with fiduciary duties and supports the financial security of retirees.

Shareholder Rights and Corporate Wrongs.

Ahead of the Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee hearing on proxy advisers — firms that provide research and proxy voting recommendations to shareholders — the Business Roundtable published a report targeting such advisers, like Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis. Corporate management complains that proxy advisors are too sympathetic to shareholder proponents and not supportive enough of management proposals — but proxy advisors’ voting recommendations overwhelmingly align with corporate management recommendations and they’re just that — recommendations investors can take or leave.

Wrote AFR’s Natalia Renta:

What the Business Roundtable and other corporate stooges are really demanding is that shareholders always support management and never exercise their shareholder rights to propose improvements to strengthen corporate governance, curb excessive executive pay, or address the very real financial risks from climate change, worker exploitation, or racial and economic inequality.

PRIVATE MARKETS

Carried Interest.

AFR’s Oscar Valdés Viera calls on Congress to close the carried interest tax loophole that allows private equity executives to lower the tax rates they pay on a substantial piece of the profits from their financial predation. PE managers get to classify the percentage of the fund's profits they receive as compensation for performing investment management services as long-term capital gains, instead of as ordinary income. Writes Valdés Viera:

Carried interest also fuels one of the most dangerous dynamics in the private equity industry: moral hazard. Fund managers are heavily rewarded when deals go well, but face almost no consequences when they go south. With very little of their own capital in the game and the promise of massive tax-advantaged profits if investments go well, managers are incentivized to take outsized risks.

Real estate private equity firms are getting in on the attempt to preserve the loophole. But, said AFR’s Caroline Nagy: “All the defenders of the carried interest loophole are saying is that if you don’t let us get richer, we will not serve low-income communities, which is not an argument so much as it is extortion.”

Private Equity and Healthcare.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project released its Private Equity Hospital Tracker, a tool that makes clear how private equity has gutted medical facilities, cut critical services, and taken advantage of government funding in the healthcare sector. Their analysis finds that nearly 500 hospitals — 8.5 percent of all private hospitals, and almost a quarter of proprietary for-profit hospitals — are owned by private equity, exposing them to the pitfalls of the industry’s extractive investment methods.

As Crain’s puts it: “Hardly any area of health care remains untouched by private equity.”

Private Equity and Childcare.

In her Jacobin article, "What Happens When Private Equity Owns Your Kid’s Day Care," Hailey Huget exposes the detrimental effects of private equity's incursion into the childcare sector. Huget recounts her personal experience with a daycare center that, under private equity ownership, prioritized profit over quality care, leading to chronic understaffing and the alarming practice of turning away children due to capacity issues. This profit-driven model often results in reduced staff-to-child ratios and compromised care standards. The article highlights that eight of the eleven largest daycare providers in the United States are now owned by private equity firms, signaling a troubling trend where financial interests overshadow the well-being of children and families.

Private Equity Downtown.

The commercial real estate sector already threatens to rock traditional finance, as a slump in building values, high vacancies, and high interest rates have made it difficult for building owners to pay off the loans they used to buy the properties in the first place. Now, even the private equity industry is nervous. Many firms have written off their “zombie buildings,” leaving bondholders to quibble over how to recoup their losses.

Big Borrowing.

The institutions that invest in private equity, seeing a slowdown in transactions that would let their asset managers exit companies and return cash, have begun to take out net-asset value (NAV) loans. In effect, they’re borrowing money against their own portfolios and putting their entire fund investments at risk, the Financial Times explains.

Private Credit.

According to Bloomberg, the companies that have taken out loans from shadow banks — including private equity — are having trouble generating cash to pay them off, putting themselves at higher odds of default. PE firms in particular have turned to old tricks of financial engineering to put off making interest payments to their debt-laden portfolio companies.

Unendowed.

Though private equity has long looked to university endowments as sources of buyout funding, the country’s two largest endowments are looking to scale back their investments in the sector. Especially important is Yale, a pioneer in endowment investing in private equity, reportedly interested in selling off $6 billion. Harvard is exploring a $1 billion sale of its PE holdings.

CRYPTO

Not-So-Decentralized Finance.

The New York Fed finds that the decentralized finance ecosystem, which includes crypto and other blockchain-adjacent projects, is far less decentralized than the technology would otherwise suggest. In reality, it is possible for certain DeFi participants to dominate “critical functions” in the sector due to their access to private information needed to conduct transactions. The authors warn: “These key DeFi players could potentially influence the broader financial system, affecting even those who have never directly interacted with crypto or DeFi.” AFR’s Mark Hays foreshadowed the NY Fed’s findings in DeFi testimony last Fall.

Crypto Casinos.

A recent investigation by the Financial Times found that crypto casinos have raked in over $80 billion in revenue, rivaling major traditional betting firms, all while operating outside the bounds of most national gambling laws. These platforms aren’t just skirting the edges of regulation; they’re actively exploiting the decentralized and anonymous nature of cryptocurrency to evade oversight entirely. With no age checks, limited geographic restrictions, and virtually no consumer protections, crypto gambling sites are creating a digital Wild West that endangers vulnerable users and undermines legal gambling frameworks. Their explosive growth makes clear that crypto is becoming the go-to tool for sidestepping laws designed to safeguard the public. ​

Trump and Crypto.

The Trump family's deepening involvement in cryptocurrency, particularly through their venture World Liberty Financial (WLF), has raised significant ethical and regulatory concerns. Launched in late 2024, WLF has amassed over $550 million by selling non-tradable governance tokens, with the Trump family securing 75 percent of the net revenues from these sales and 60 percent from the company's operations. Despite its branding as a decentralized finance initiative, WLF's structure appears highly centralized, favoring insider control and limiting meaningful participation for token holders. The venture's ties to foreign investors, such as Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, who invested at least $75 million while under U.S. regulatory scrutiny, further complicate its ethical standing. Additionally, WLF's launch of the USD1 stablecoin, used in a $2 billion investment in Binance by Abu Dhabi's MGX, underscores the intertwining of Trump's political influence with private financial interests. These developments not only blur the lines between public service and personal gain but also pose massive conflicts of interest, especially as President Trump continues to shape U.S. crypto policy.

Crypto Unguided.

Under the guise of so-called “innovation,” the Federal Reserve reversed Biden-era guidance that directed banks to notify them before they undertook any crypto-related activities, as well as guidance to obtain permission before dipping into stablecoins. The central bank also rescinded statements that reminded financial institutions about the risks of engaging in cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile: Some crypto regulators in other parts of the world are taking advice from Changpeng Zhao, the magnate who pleaded guilty in the United States for failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering systems at his crypto exchange Binance. Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan named him an adviser, and he recently met with Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to discuss crypto issues.

How Long in Prison?

More than 200 former investors in the failed crypto platform Celsius submitted letters to the federal judge presiding over the criminal case of its founder, Alex Mashinsky. The majority called for the most severe possible punishment, with some even suggesting life in prison. In one of the largest crypto collapses ever, Celsius froze customer accounts while it had a “$1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet” before filing bankruptcy, along with several other firms during 2022’s crypto crash.

Said investor Brandon Lawrence, who lost 1.5 Bitcoin (worth about $140,000 today):

The very essence of cryptocurrency, along with my ambitions and dreams, has been tarnished…I’m saddled with a mountain of debt and disgrace. The prospects I once envisioned are now unattainable, all due to Alex Mashinsky and his ill-timed bankruptcy filing. He was cognizant of his actions. He has devastated numerous lives and there are those who have taken their own lives because of him.

HOUSING

Getting Pulte’s Way.

This week, the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency declined to investigate Director Pulte’s moves to consolidate power over government-sponsored mortgage lending under himself. Said Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “FHFA Director Pulte needs to answer for the chaos he has created that could undermine the stability of American mortgages.”

AI x HUD x DOGE.

Elon Musk’s DOGE has tasked a college student with using artificial intelligence to rewrite the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regulations. Artificial intelligence is, of course, infamous for routinely hallucinating information.

The Insurance Crisis.

The U.S. home insurance market is facing a mounting crisis as climate change intensifies natural disasters, driving up premiums and limiting coverage options for homeowners. In Texas, for instance, average home insurance premiums surged by nearly 19 percent in 2022 and 21 percent in 2023, with some homeowners receiving quotes as high as $15,000 annually. This escalation is attributed to the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and hailstorms, coupled with rising rebuilding costs. Consequently, more Texans are turning to state-backed insurers of last resort, which offer less comprehensive coverage at higher prices.

In California, the situation is exacerbated by allegations of anticompetitive behavior among major insurers. Two antitrust lawsuits filed in Los Angeles Superior Court accuse leading insurance companies, including State Farm, of conspiring to limit coverage in wildfire-prone areas and funnel homeowners into the California FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort. This plan often provides less coverage at higher premiums, leaving homeowners underinsured and financially vulnerable.

The Revolving Door Project highlights that these challenges are not solely due to climate change but are also a result of regulatory failures and industry consolidation. The organization's analysis suggests that lax oversight and the revolving door between industry and regulators have allowed insurers to prioritize profits over consumer protection, exacerbating the home insurance crisis.

Protecting Veterans.

This week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs discontinued the only-year-old Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, the VA’s only mortgage assistance option that allows veterans and their families to obtain affordable payments when they’re delinquent on their current mortgages. The National Consumer Law Center criticizes the walk-back, saying it puts people at risk of losing their homes.

Colony Ridge.

Under the leadership of Trump appointee Vought, the CFPB has asked for a pause in its case against Colony Ridge, a housing developer that the agency and Department of Justice sued in 2023 over allegations that it lured Latine borrowers into using unaffordable loans to purchase flood-prone homesites without utility hookups.

Rural Housing.

The Consumer Federation of America's (CFA) recent report, "Rural Homeownership Challenges: A Perspective from Eastern Kentucky," sheds light on the escalating housing crisis in rural America. Focusing on Perry County, Kentucky, the study reveals that many homes are in disrepair, with ownership often passed down informally among family members, complicating access to financing. The region has suffered from devastating floods in 2022 and 2025, exacerbating housing shortages and highlighting the inadequacy of current disaster recovery efforts. Compounding these issues are federal budget cuts to housing programs and rising construction costs due to tariffs, making it increasingly difficult for low-income families to secure and maintain safe housing.

CLIMATE and FINANCE

Tracking Private Equity.

This week, the Private Equity Climate Risks project — a consortium comprising AFR, Global Energy Monitor, and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project — released its Global Fossil Fuel Asset Tracker, a database that pulls back the curtain on the polluting assets owned by private equity. Said AFREF’s Dustin Duong:

Private equity firms lure investors into contributing money toward fossil fuel projects that worsen climate catastrophe and harm frontline communities — sometimes even their own. By exposing their portfolios, the Private Equity Global Energy Tracker will help investors, like pension funds, do their due diligence, add an additional layer of protection for the everyday workers who rely on them before inking a deal with a private equity manager, and allow communities to understand who is operating in their backyard.

Get Net Zero.

The New York City Comptroller office announced that the asset managers that raise money from the city’s pension funds — a mass of over $280 billion in assets belonging to teachers and other public employees — would be required to have strong net zero plans, or risk being dropped by the pension boards. AFREF applauds the move.

Said AFREF’s Natalia Renta:

We applaud Comptroller Lander for taking this important step to hold the asset managers New Yorkers entrust with their deferred wages accountable to acting in their best interests. These asset managers are large financial institutions with enormous power over our financial system and economy, and they should use that power to further the interests of the public workers and retirees who are their clients — not to exacerbate the climate crisis.”

And AFREF’s Alex Martin: “It’s high time that someone called out asset managers on their greenwashing and established some consequences for firms that fail to guard against physical risks and execute a credible net zero transition plan.”