Ahead of a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on debanking, Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on President Donald Trump to take action against the debanking of Americans. In her letter, Warren urged the President to support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in its efforts to stop unfair debanking practices and directed other agencies to use their authority to address this issue.
Warren released an analysis that identified thousands of complaints related to debanking over the past three years. More than half of these complaints were directed at four major banks: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup.
At the World Economic Forum, President Trump criticized debanking and emphasized through an executive order that "protecting and promoting fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding individual citizens and private-sector entities alike" is a policy priority for his administration. Warren expressed her willingness to collaborate with Trump, Chairman Tim Scott, and other Congress members to improve financial service access by ending unjustified debanking practices.
Warren highlighted five CFPB initiatives addressing the threat of debanking. She urged President Trump to empower the CFPB rather than halt its rulemaking and enforcement activities against financial institutions accused of misconduct. This stance opposes actions taken by Secretary of the Treasury and Acting CFPB Director Scott Bessent.
The freeze on CFPB activities contradicts the Administration's goal of preventing debanking and reducing costs for American families. Without intervention, more Americans may lose access to deposit accounts.