What The Hell America!

If you’ve ever felt scammed by a mortgage company, auto lender, credit reporting agency or other financial institution, you might have turned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help. In recent years, millions of Americans have filed complaints with the agency. Sometimes they did so after a long, unsuccessful back-and-forth with customer service representatives. In other cases, a friend, family member or advocate referred them.

The number of complaints — about payday loans, debt collection practices and more — has been growing steadily. The federal agency fielded 2.7 million of them last year, and half of those resulted in some kind of relief for consumers, according to agency data.

But now, those who have recently submitted complaints, who were part of larger cases or who fall victim to scams in the future may no longer be able to turn to the agency. That’s because the Trump administration is moving to dismantle the CFPB while its leaders have dropped lawsuits against major companies like Capital One and Rocket Homes. (The companies lauded the decision to drop the lawsuits and said that they disputed the CFPB’s allegations.)

A legal battle over the agency’s future is ongoing, and some consumers are already feeling the effects. As ProPublica reported today, dozens of ongoing bureau probes are effectively frozen, potentially denying accountability and financial relief for untold numbers of consumers.

“The Bureau has gone dark,” one agency official put it in a recent court filing.

The fallout affects millions of Americans across the political spectrum, including those living in states that supported President Donald Trump’s election. In fact, consumers in a number of those states — such as Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Louisiana and Texas — file complaints to the agency at some of the country’s highest rates.

The result of the administration’s actions is widespread confusion both within and outside the bureau as to who is sifting through complaints about scams and whether the agency will have enough resources to help the people who filed them, including student borrowers, military service members, people looking to build credit and the elderly.

ProPublica wants to understand the fallout that might come from gutting the federal government’s consumer watchdog, and we need your help. Please fill out the form below if you or someone you know:

• Filed a complaint with the CFPB in the past year.
• Had problems with a company whose case the CFPB dismissed or stopped investigating.
• Were in touch with the CFPB regarding investigations or resolutions in the past year.
• Worked with communities that rely on CFPB’s resources.

We are also interested in connecting with you if you work or worked for the agency or for one of the financial institutions it regulates. If that’s you, please do not fill out the form below. Instead, text reporter Jake Pearson securely on Signal at 917-512-0276.

We take your privacy seriously. We are gathering these responses for the purposes of our reporting and will contact you if we wish to publish any part of them.

You can fill out the form here.