Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Director, Office of Management and Budget, is sworn-in during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)2025-02-09T16:08:36Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down an agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama pushed to include it in the 2010 financial reform legislation that followed the 2007-2008 financial crisis.The email also ordered the bureau to cease all supervision and examination activity. Also late Saturday, Vought said in a social media post that the CFPB would no longer withdraw funds from the Federal Reserve, adding that its current financing of $711.6 million is excessive. Congress directed the bureau to be funded by the Fed to insulate it from political pressures. The CFPB says that it has obtained nearly $20 billion in financial relief for U.S. consumers since its founding in the form of canceled debts, compensation, and reduced loans. Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, an advocacy group, said, thats why Wall Streets biggest banks and Trumps billionaire allies hate the bureau: its an effective cop on the finance beat and has stood side-by-side with hundreds of millions of Americans Republicans and Democrats battling financial predators, scammers, and crooks. The administrations move against the CFPB highlights the tensions between Trumps more populist promises to lower costs for working-class families and his pledge to reduce government regulation. During the campaign, Trump said he would cap credit card interest rates at 10%, after they had soared to record levels above 20%, on average, as the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates in 2022 and 2023. The CFPB had started work on how that proposal would be implemented. Voughts email follows a similar directive from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Feb. 3 and is the latest move by the Trump administration to rapidly curtail the work of federal agencies that they have deemed excessive. Vought suggested that the CFPB is unaccountable in his social media post. Contacting The Associated PressThe Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual, nonpartisan journalism. We are reporting on changes within the U.S. government under the new administration. If you are a former or current government worker who would like to share information with us, please message us on Signal at TheAP.1846 Obama created the bureau in the wake of the 2007-2008 housing bubble and financial crisis, which was caused in part by fraudulent mortgage lending. It was the brainchild of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and has attracted criticism and lawsuits from large banks and financial industry trade associations. Voughts email said that President Donald Trump had made him acting director of the CFPB on Friday. Trump fired the previous director of the bureau, Rohit Chopra, on Feb. 1.Under Chopra, the CFPB approved rules to cap overdraft fees by banks, limit junk fees, and has proposed restrictions on data brokers selling personal information such as Social Security numbers. The agency had also sought to address complaints about the alleged debanking of crypto firms and conservatives by seeking to ban contracts that could cause someone to lose access to financial services for making political statements. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site