The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Elon Musk had declared would be 'disbanded,' has fired 1,500 employees, or 90% of its total workforce, leaving only about 200 employees, effectively disbanding it

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-doge-cfpb-elon-musk-456b747c367fccbcf3b74d2893cd1a35

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has cut 90 percent of its employees
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-has-cut-90-percent-of-its-employees-225239056.html

CPFB starts to lay off staff as the agency adjusts its focus : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/nx-s1-5368206/cfpb-layoffs-rif

According to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the CFPB will cut about 1,500 employees, or about 90% of its total workforce, leaving the agency with only about 200 employees. This is expected to affect the CFPB's core functions, including financial institution oversight and enforcement.

Regarding the CFPB, Elon Musk, who effectively heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has said, 'I will dismantle the CFPB. There are too many overlapping regulatory agencies,' and ' I pray for the CFPB's repose .'

Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicate regulatory agencies.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024

According to the report, CFPB employees will begin receiving termination notices on Thursday, April 17, 2025, and their access to internal systems, including email, will be suspended as early as the evening of the 18th.

The termination notice sent to employees reportedly read, 'The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has confirmed that your position will be eliminated. As part of the reduction in force process, your employment will be terminated.'

'CFPB oversight will reduce the number of supervisory events and examinations by 50% and focus on reconciling, correcting, and remedying harms that are the subject of consumer complaints,' CFPB Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta wrote in a letter to staff.

The CFPB will also revert to its pre-2012 structure, which focused primarily on depository institutions rather than non-depository institutions. According to the letter, at the time of writing, the CFPB oversees a composition of 'less than 40% banks and depository institutions and more than 60% non-banks.' However, going forward, the composition will return to '70% banks and depository institutions and 30% non-banks.'

According to the letter, the CFPB will 'focus its anti-fraud efforts on areas where there is real and measurable consumer harm, rather than issues based on the agency's perception that consumers have 'made bad choices.'' Going forward, the CFPB will prioritize mortgages, followed by data breaches, consumer contracts, debt obligations, fraudulent overcharges, fees, and inadequate controls to protect consumer information.

Additionally, the CFPB's new priorities would see it step back from areas where state regulators have significant power, except where required by law, and eliminate duplicative regulatory functions administered by other federal agencies.

Other areas that could be deprioritized by the CFPB include 'financing efforts for justice-involved individuals (criminals),' as well as 'medical debt,' 'peer-to-peer platforms and lending,' 'student loans,' 'remittances,' 'consumer data,' and 'digital payments.'

The CFPB's 90% staffing cuts were blocked by the National Treasury Employees Union, which asked a federal judge to intervene, calling them a 'poor attempt to dismantle and cripple the agency.' However, the appeals court ruled that the termination notices could be sent to employees who the defendants determined, after a thorough evaluation, were no longer needed to carry out the defendants' statutory duties.