Bureau Announces Plans to Suppress Consumer Complaint Information, Breaking with Years-Long, Bipartisan Commitment to Transparency
August 14, 2026 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Trump Administration announced it would break with more than a decade of precedent and suppress the publication of information submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from Americans about problems they encounter across the financial marketplace. This unprecedented action will shield financial firms’ abuses from public scrutiny, denying families access to critical information as they shop for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and correct errors on their credit reports.
In response to today’s announcement by the Trump Administration, Erie Meyer, former Chief Technologist at the CFPB and an architect of the CFPB’s consumer complaint database, released the following statement:
“The Trump Administration is inventing excuses to hide credit reporting and Wall Street abuses from the public. More than 17 million people have filed complaints with the CFPB about their credit report, mortgage provider, student loan servicer, payment app, or bank account–and the CFPB in turn has worked diligently to resolve these problems, even saving people’s homes from foreclosure and cars from repossession. Taking down this data doesn’t protect consumers from confusion, but it does protect companies from public transparency and scrutiny.
“The CFPB complaint database and its narratives are the earliest warning system we have for what’s breaking in the economy. Before a single story is published, the CFPB confirms the person is a real customer of that company. The company gets two weeks to respond, on the record, in public. That’s not an anonymous internet review — that’s closer to due process than most Americans get anywhere else in their financial lives. Burying this information is an intentional decision to make corporate misconduct harder to see.”
Protect Borrowers executive director Mike Pierce released the following statement:
“At every step, Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has done favors for financial firms and kicked families in the teeth. As costs keep climbing and more Americans turn to debt to stay afloat, this is the worst possible moment to deny the public and policymakers access to basic information about the problems people experience when buying a home, taking out a car loan, paying for college, or putting groceries on a credit card.
“This is just the latest and most extreme example of Trump’s consumer watchdog fighting for corporations instead of standing up for the rest of us.”
Further Reading
Amicus Brief from a coalition of veterans and nonprofit groups challenging efforts by the Trump Administration to shutter the CFPB: Amicus Brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NTEU v. Vought
Protect Borrowers and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) memo on additional enforcement actions dropped by the CFPB: In Eight Months, Trump’s CFPB Has Let More Than 40 Lawbreakers Off the Hook
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB’s Settlement with MoneyLion: Trump’s CFPB Waves the White Flag on the Military Lending Act to Give MoneyLion a Sweetheart Deal. Why?
Protect Borrowers blog post on the Trump CFPB costing Americans: Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Agenda—or Lack Thereof—Has Already Cost Americans More Than $18 Billion
Protect Borrowers and CFA blog post on the fight to defend CFPB: Trump Trashes the Economy and Leaves Americans Vulnerable: Two Disastrous Months of Trump’s CFPB
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo on repeat offenders and CFPB enforcement: As House Financial Services Committee Majority Lines Up Industry Witnesses to Bash CFPB, Consumer Advocates Issue Rap Sheet Highlighting More Than $3 Billion in Harm Caused by Corporate Repeat Offenders
Protect Borrowers warns state AGs of emerging tech scam: As CFPB Enforcement Folds, Predatory Tech Company Prehired Defies Government Order to Cease Operations and Continues Defrauding Students
Protect Borrowers and CFA memo identifying 87 congressionally imposed mandates Director Vought is refusing to perform: Advocates Applaud Lawsuits Challenging Trump and Vought’s Corrupt and Unlawful Attempt to “Delete” Consumer Watchdog Agency, CFPB
Protect Borrowers press release on federal court temporary blocking Trump, Musk, and Vought from dismantling the CFPB: In a Major Victory for Americans, Federal Court Blocks Trump, Musk, Vought Effort to Dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Protect Borrowers blog on Musk and DOGE illegal attempt to “delete” CFPB: Elon and DOGE Are Attempting To Illegally “Delete” the CFPB, Here Is Why This Matters To Student Loan Borrowers
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About Protect Borrowers
Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.
Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.