More than $360 million in redress owed to Americans is at risk due to actions taken by the Trump-led Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new investigation released by the Consumer Federation of America, or CFA, and Student Borrower Protection Center, or SBPC, shows.
The joint investigation highlights that more than $120 million in compensation meant for people harmed by illegal conduct has already been taken from victims and returned to the same companies that broke the law, while hundreds of millions of dollars in additional compensation may be at risk of being revoked entirely.
“The CFPB should be protecting Americans in the financial marketplace, not coddling corporate lawbreakers,” Eric Halperin, senior fellow at CFA, said in a statement. “The Trump CFPB’s laundry list of corporate pardons and ongoing termination of settled enforcement cases raises serious questions about the fate of hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Americans.”
“When Americans got ripped off by big banks and other financial companies, they could count on the CFPB to take action – until now,” said Allison Preiss, senior fellow at the SBPC. “Under Trump’s CFPB, Wall Street wrongdoers are being richly rewarded at the expense of Americans who should be getting checks in the mail. There’s been no word from Trump’s CFPB as to the whereabouts of hundreds of millions of dollars in redress that is owed to the American people.”
When banks and other financial companies violate the law, in the past the CFPB stepped in to hold them accountable.
Until earlier this year, the CFPB would either take companies to court or negotiate settlements, often resulting in refunds and other redress to harmed Americans and penalties paid by lawbreakers. Those penalties were then returned to scammed and ripped-off Americans through direct restitution or through the agency’s Civil Penalty Fund, also known as the victims relief fund.
Now, under the Trump administration’s acting director, Russell Vought, the CFPB has abandoned that mission, said Halperin.
The Trump CFPB has dropped at least 22 pending enforcement actions involving billions of dollars in harm to Americans, and earlier this year, attempted to fire the majority of the CFPB’s enforcement arm.
As the CFA-SBPC investigation highlights, in three separate cases, Trump’s CFPB terminated or withdrew from settlements that would have provided more than $120 million in redress to harmed Americans. In each case, Trump’s CFPB eliminated the companies’ obligation to pay restitution. In a fourth case, the agency reduced the financial penalty.
These actions from Trump’s CFPB deprived servicemembers and veterans, student loan borrowers, and people with auto loans of money that companies had already agreed to pay.
The CFA-SBPC investigation also shows that hundreds of millions of dollars in additional consumer compensation is still in jeopardy.
In 2024, the CFPB ordered companies to pay $550 million to Americans harmed by illegal conduct. While some of that money has already been delivered, much of it is still at risk if the agency continues to terminate orders before payments are made.
This includes cases involving CashApp parent company, Block, where as much as $120 million is due to be refunded to Americans; student loan servicer Navient, where $100 million in redress checks to Americans appear to be stuck; and more than $10.3 million from American Honda Finance, which is automaker Honda’s in-house auto lending arm.
The investigation also highlights areas where the Trump-Vought CFPB has failed to be transparent with the public about the status of penalties and distributions from the victims relief fund, according to the report.
Since 2011, the CFPB has regularly published quarterly reports about penalties collected and how funds were disbursed to harmed consumers. These reports usually appear about three months after each quarter and include data on penalties, redress, and specific case allocations.
However, under new leadership, the CFPB hasn’t posted a report since Jan. 5, a clear departure from previous and consistent public reporting.
