Attorney General Phil Weiser announced that he has joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in support of a lawsuit (PDF download) to stop the Trump administration and Elon Musk from defunding and disbanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB is an independent agency that oversees big banks, lenders, credit card companies, and mortgage servicers and ensures companies are following federal consumer protection laws.
On Feb. 9, the Trump administration directed the CFPB to stop all its ongoing work and not to begin any new investigations. In a brief filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Weiser and the other attorneys general warn that dismantling the CFPB will significantly harm consumers and hamper enforcement of federal consumer protection laws.
“After the Great Recession left people vulnerable to financial harm, lawmakers created the CFPB to give consumers an ally in Washington,” Weiser said. “I have worked extensively with the CFPB to protect Coloradans during my time in office, and I know people here and across the country will be harmed if the agency is shuttered. Regardless, I will continue to enforce Colorado and federal law to protect consumers.”
Since its creation in 2011 in response to the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has improved the financial lives of millions of Americans by helping homeowners facing foreclosure stay in their homes, stopping banks from charging junk fees, and returning more than $20 billion to the pockets of consumers nationwide. The CFPB also partners with state attorneys general to stop deceptive, unfair, and abusive conduct by companies.
As a result of the Trump administration’s actions, the country’s largest banks are no longer being closely watched for compliance with key consumer protections by any federal regulator. The brief makes the case that this may lead to the same type of loosening of financial regulatory compliance seen in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
In Colorado, the attorney general’s office is working with the CFPB on pending litigation filed last year (opens new tab) against a company over an alleged debt-relief scheme that used a web of interrelated companies collected exorbitant, illegal advance fees from vulnerable consumers suffering financial difficulties. In 2023, Colorado and other states worked with the CFPB to secure a $35 million settlement (opens new tab), with $400,000 directly benefiting Colorado consumers who were harmed by a leasing company that mislead consumers into thinking they were buying products they were in fact leasing.
In addition to enforcing consumer protection laws through legal action, another essential function of the CFPB is to receive complaints from consumers, providing both relief to consumers and a window into predatory and unfair practices that can lead state attorneys general to act. The brief argues that the administration’s efforts to destroy the CFPB could prevent consumers from reporting issues of fraud or deception.
Joining Weiser in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
Original source can be found here.