Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

CFPB Law Enforcement Plummets Under Trump Administration

New Study Documents Drop in Activity in Markets with the Most Consumer Complaints

Washington D.C. — A report released today by the Consumer Federation of America finds that the volume of publicly announced enforcement actions under Trump Administration appointees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is in steep decline. The news comes as CFPB Director Kraninger is set to testify this morning in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

“Law enforcement activity at the CFPB has dropped precipitously under the Trump Administration’s leadership,” said Christopher Peterson, CFA’s Director of Financial Services and author of the report.

The CFPB is charged with enforcing federal consumer financial law and bringing legal action against companies that violate that law. The CFPB also has the authority to seek monetary restitution for harmed consumers and impose fines when it uncovers violations of the law. The report finds that activity in both of these areas is on the decline – overall enforcement activity is down by 80% from the Bureau’s peak productivity in 2015 and average monetary relief to victims down by 96% per case.

Declines Occur in Markets with Highest Consumer Complaint Volume

This decline is seen in the areas where the volume of consumer complaints received by the CFPB is the highest. Public enforcement actions involving credit reporting and debt collection, which saw the highest complaint volumes in recent years have dropped significantly. Further, under the Trump Administration’s leadership the Bureau has not announced a single dollar of monetary relief in any of the high-volume complaint areas of credit reporting, debt collection, or student lending. More findings include:

  • Law enforcement addressing illegal credit reporting practices has declined sharply under the Trump Administration’s leadership. The CFPB has announced only two cases enforcing the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The CFPB agreed to settle both cases without providing a single dollar of restitution to victims of illegal practices.
  • Law enforcement addressing illegal debt collection practices has declined sharply under the Trump Administration’s leadership. Under Acting Director Mulvaney and Director Kraninger the CFPB has announced only one case enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The CFPB agreed to settle this case without ordering a single dollar of restitution to victims of illegal debt collection practices.
  • Law enforcement policing of the home mortgage lending market has declined sharply under the Trump Administration’s leadership. Under prior leadership, the CFPB announced 61 mortgage lending cases that returned nearly $3 billion in restitution to consumers at a pace of over $10 million per week. Under Acting Director Mulvaney consumer relief per week in mortgage lending declined by over 99% to less than $5000 per week for the entire nation. Under Director Kraninger, the Bureau has not announced a single mortgage lending related case, nor any restitution for consumers.
  • Law enforcement policing of the student loan market has declined sharply under the Trump Administration’s leadership. Under Director Cordray, the CFPB announced 15 student lending related cases with an average of $47.5 million in consumer relief per case. Under the Trump Administration’s leadership, the CFPB has not announced or resolved a single student lending enforcement case and has provided no restitution to any consumers.
  • Under the Trump Administration’s leadership, the CFPB has failed to enforce consumer protection laws prohibiting discrimination. Under Director Cordray, the CFPB announced 11 cases enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act producing average consumer relief over $56 million per case. Under the Trump Administration’s leadership, the CFPB has not announced or resolved a single case alleging unlawful discrimination and has provided no restitution to any consumers.
  • Under the Trump Administration’s leadership, the CFPB has failed to provide adequate restitution to victims of deceptive practices. Under prior leadership, the CFPB announced 116 enforcement cases against consumer finance companies that used in deceptive or misleading practices producing average consumer relief of over $94 million per case. Although Director Kraninger has announced 3 enforcement cases alleging deceptive practices, the CFPB agreed to settle each case without ordering any monetary restitution for victims.

“It is simply unacceptable for a consumer protection agency to turn its back on consumers that have been harmed by their financial institution’s deceit,” said Peterson. “Consumers have a right to expect that the federal government will enforce our consumer protection laws.”

The full report can be found here.