The billionaire founder of Tesla, X, and SpaceX said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a duplicative agency that should be deleted.
“Delete CFPB,” Elon Musk posted on X. “There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies.”
The CFPB was established in 2011 following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It operates as an agency of the United States government with the primary mission to enforce federal consumer financial laws and protect consumers in the financial sector. The CFPB's jurisdiction encompasses banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortgage-servicing operations, foreclosure relief services, debt collectors, and other financial companies operating in the United States.
Rohit Chopra is the current director of the CFPB. He was appointed to the role by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 30, 2021. Chopra previously served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from May 2018 to October 2021.
Patrick Brenner, president of the Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), told the American Legal Record Podcast in May that the CFPB had "gone a little off the rails," reported American Credit News.
“The intent of the agency's (CFPB) formation, which was authorized in 2010 by the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was originally meant to be noble and self-evident,” said Brenner. “It was to protect the financial health of American consumers.”
“And since 2010 and the establishment of the CFPB, I think they've gone a little off the rails and they've wandered into regulating areas that I don't even think they mean to wander into,” he said. “And that's where we enter the latest circular that was published by the CFPB earlier this year - it was the CFPB circular that targets specifically comparison shopping.”
David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that “Congress has no oversight” of the CFPB, reported Federal Newswire in March 2024.
“It goes back to the beginning, in 2010, the way that the CFPB was created is that Congress has no oversight of this agency,” Williams said on the American Legal Record podcast. “That sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it's absolutely true that Congress has no oversight, and that this is a creature of the Federal Reserve, and the budget is set by The CFPB.”
“So the CFPB, they get to decide their own budget as long as it doesn't exceed 12 percent of the Fed's operating expense,” Williams said. “We have an agency that is on almost autopilot and they get to give themselves raises no matter what as long as it doesn't reach that 12 percent threshold.”
Williams said that just like “a seven year old kid needs oversight from their parents,” government agencies “need oversight from Congress.”
The TPA launched a new platform, called “CFPB Mission Creep” in January, meant to “educate the public on the negative impacts resulting from overreaching actions by unaccountable regulators” at the CFPB,” said the group in a press release.
Williams said that the CFBP’s “actions are unconstitutional, unaccountable, and simply unacceptable to consumers and taxpayers.”