‘Whirlwind’ of Shakeups Hits CFPB, FTC
Federal regulators are in transition mode as a “whirlwind” of change hits the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission, reports Nick Zulovich, senior editor of SubPrime Auto Finance News, who is tracking an overhaul of agencies that govern auto retail and finance under a second Trump administration.
“While three critical appointments have been made at the Federal Trade Commission, the head of the Office of Management and Budget and the acting director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to shut down the entire CFPB,” Zulovich writes, referring to Russell Vought, who has suspended supervision and said he would not seek further CFPB funding.
Among the aforementioned appointments made by recently promoted FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson is Christopher Mufarrige as director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Mufarrige was a senior adviser at the CFPB during President Donald Trump’s first term and his appointment could portend a wholesale transfer of rulemaking and enforcement duties to the FTC.
However, as Zulovich reports, a union representing federal workers, including about 1,000 CFPB employees, is fighting to keep the agency open.
“By ordering employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop work, the administration has unlawfully trampled the power of Congress to create a federal agency that it deemed necessary to protecting American consumers, according to a lawsuit filed Sunday by the National Treasury Employees Union,” Zulovich writes.
