The union representing employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's acting director filed two lawsuits against the evil white nationalist and Project 2025 mastermind Russell Vought, yesterday after Vought issued a series of directives halting much of the bureau's activity. F*ck this self-righteous lying dweeb. Via NBC News:
The filings cap a tumultuous weekend for the CFPB as bureau functions were ordered paused and employees were told that the headquarters building in Washington will be closed this week, according to an email NBC News obtained from two current employees.
One lawsuit urged a judge to block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing employee information, while the other asked a judge to block Vought's directives. Vought had instructed employees in an email Saturday to "cease all supervision and examination activity," "cease all stakeholder engagement" and pause all pending investigations, among other orders.
The lawsuits were filed by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in the CFPB. The filing that centered on Vought's email argued that a judge should declare "that Defendant Vought’s directive to the CFPB’s employees to stop their supervision and enforcement work is unlawful" and stop Vought from additional attempts to pause this work.
Now, here's what the most immediate effects will be, according to Matt Stoller:
Let’s start with some of the small stuff that will now change. Rules against excessive overdraft fees? Gone. A rule capping credit card late fees? Gone. Oversight of debt collectors and payday lenders? No more. An honest site to compare credit card products? Likely gone. In 2023, the CFPB said that big banks can’t charge junk fees for basic customer service, like being able to check the amount of money in your account. The reason isn’t just that it’s nice, but that big banks themselves were unable to offer basic information, like who owned mortgages, prior to 2008. That’s gone too. Another rule put forward recently is that mortgage servicers can’t garner excessive fees when they foreclose, which is an incentive to foreclose rather than working out loans. No longer.
But the real fight goes back to 2008. Remember when the lawless banks and insurance companies crashed the economy and sent the country into a deep recession? The CFPB was the small concession to consumers to protect us from predatory banks. Go read the rest of Stoller's piece.
Read it, then call your congress members and senators.
