CFPB was ordered to stop doing their work on February 9th by Treasury Secretary (and acting CFPB Director) Scott Bessent, followed by White House Budget Director Russ Vought, a key Project 2025 author who replaced Bessent as CFPB's acting director.
No federal entity is protecting you from any of the work of the Big Banks. Literally. Click here for an excerpt of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this week.
You should be scared. I am.
I served a one-year term as a Visiting Scholar at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I have successfully lobbied at the state level for the passage of laws guaranteeing personal finance as a graduation requirement. I know what the inside looks like.
I am witnessing the total dismantling of the guardrails that keep us safe in our financial system.
Here is what you can do.
Protect Your Financial Information: Click here for three specific steps to safeguard your bank accounts and credit.
Stay Focused and Take This Seriously: We are constantly bombarded with fake news, nonsense, and distractions. What is occurring at the CFPB is terrifying, so treat it that way.
Contact Your Lawmakers: It's our civic responsibility to make our voices heard. Below is step-by-step guidance on how to do so.
Click here for the congressional directory. It's super fast. Enter your address and what populates are your representatives and their contact information.
5calls.org has made it easy to know what to say and the simple process of speaking with your lawmaker. Click here to take 20 seconds and review their instructions.
If civic engagement is new to you, then go into the process with your eyes wide open.
A good way to start is to explore how much time you want to invest and what you want to say. Please don't waste your time with their public-facing bios. Use Open Secrets to follow the money—who funded their campaign. That's who they'll be fighting for, not us.
Here's an example. My Representative is Brian Jack, a career lobbyist who was the Assistant to President Trump in 2020, the highest rank of the Executive Office of the President staff. Between his own Pac and his Super Pac, he raised nearly $3 million from special interest groups and lobbying firms.
Clearly, he wouldn't care about my position, so I called the office and wrote a quick email. After a week of the CFPB being halted, Representative Jack "did not have an official position."
One more thing, share your concern with friends and family.
Although this shouldn't be political, it is. Tribalists who prefer political news entertainment will have no interest in listening, so don't waste your emotional energy. However, there are folks from all political spectrums who are eager, or at least willing, to listen and learn. Speak to them.
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