When Bianca Jones decided she wanted to buy a home, she did what many hopeful buyers do: she checked her credit. What the 33-year-old special education teacher in Memphis found instead was a shock that nearly derailed her plans entirely.
Jones discovered that her student loan debt had been double-counted on her report from Experian, inflating her balance to nearly $250,000. The error made her appear far deeper in debt than she actually was, putting a mortgage out of reach. Despite disputing the mistake multiple times, she said the company dismissed her concerns.
“They kept saying it’s been verified, it’s been verified…They never investigated. They never tried to remove it,” Jones said. Out of options, Jones turned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created after the 2008 financial crisis. The complaint she filed helped establish a clear record of her efforts, which her attorneys later used in court, as per reports from Reuters.
Jones ultimately won her case, had her credit corrected, and closed on a $300,000 home in January. “If I didn’t have this agency to go to, I don’t think I’d be in the house right now,” she said. “It actually changed my life.” Stories like Jones’s are fueling concern as the CFPB faces possible shutdown under Donald Trump’s second administration.
Trump has called the agency a political tool and said it is “very important to get rid of the agency,” claiming without evidence that it was used improperly by Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed its creation. Warren dismissed the criticism. “This is not about vendettas,” she said. “This is about enforcing the law as it is written, so that billionaires and billionaire corporations don’t cheat American families.”
The administration is now moving to sharply reduce the CFPB’s workforce, halt investigations, and shift cases to the Justice Department. Congressional Republicans have also cut their funding ceiling, while industry-backed lawsuits have rolled back many of its rules on credit cards, medical debt, overdraft fees, and student loans.
Supporters say the consequences will be felt most by everyday consumers. Since its founding, the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion to consumers and resolved millions of complaints. Morgan Smith, a single mother in Washington state, said the agency was critical after her identity was stolen. “I went straight to the CFPB,” she said. “It gave me all the information I needed to know…my rights.”
Critics argue the agency overreaches and duplicates work done by other regulators. Even some former officials who questioned its tactics warn against eliminating it entirely. “If you take them out of the picture altogether, you’re going to get more abuse, not less,” said former FDIC vice chair Thomas Hoenig. “I’m disappointed to see the CFPB just go away.” As Reuters reports, for consumers like Jones, the agency was more than a regulator. It was the only place left to turn.
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