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Consumer watchdog quits cases against firms accused of ripping off Americans
CNN
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau abruptly dropped cases on Thursday against Capital One, Rocket Homes and a student loan servicer, according to court filings.The moves come as Jonathan McKernan, President Trump’s pick to head the CFPB.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) abruptly dropped cases on Thursday against multiple companies that had previously been accused of hurting consumers. Court filings indicate that the consumer watchdog has decided to dismiss lawsuits previously filed against Capital One, Rocket Homes, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and a student loan servicer. Just weeks earlier the CFPB accused Capital One of “cheating” millions of customers out of billions of dollars of interest payments. The decision to abandon the cases demonstrates the hands-off approach to regulation from the Trump administration, which has scrambled to sideline the CFPB in recent weeks in an effort led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump-appointed officials have ordered staff to halt all work – including fighting financial crime. Now the CFPB is dropping multiple cases it had previously pursued. “The most important consumer financial watchdog is no longer on the beat,” Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah and former CFPB official, told CNN in a phone interview. “This means that major corporations who have ripped off ordinary working people are going to get away scot-free.” The moves come the same day as Jonathan McKernan, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the CFPB, faces questions from US senators during a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.