Press Releases
CONSUMERS WIN: As SCOTUS Rules CFPB Constitutional, Watchdog Demands All Lower Courts Unfreeze Agency’s Blocked Rules & Enforcement Actions
WASHINGTON D.C. – In a historic victory for American consumers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s funding structure is constitutional. The high court rejected baseless arguments brought by the predatory payday loan industry with a long history of harming vulnerable communities and a greedy motive for taking away consumer protections. Government watchdog Accountable.US called for the immediate dismissal of all lawsuits in lower federal courts against CFPB enforcement actions and new regulations that cited the payday lenders’ lawsuit as their basis for rejecting the CFPB’s independence and authority. See roundup here: Since CFPB v. CFSA made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in November 2022, courts ordered stays in at least ten of the Bureau’s enforcement cases.
This lawsuit brought by predatory lenders was only ever about one thing: taking out the best line of defense consumers have against financial industry scams, price-gouging and abuse. The reason the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is so effective at making wronged consumers whole is because of its independence, which is why shady industry CEOs and lawmakers in their pocket wanted to jam up the agency’s funding with politics and lobbyist money. Now that the CFPB’s funding structure is settled law, every lawsuit clogging up courtrooms with challenges to the agency’s enforcement authority and cost-lowering rules hinging on the outcome of the predatory lenders’ case must be immediately tossed out. The legal system must allow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to fully do its job protecting consumers and lowering costs – and conservatives in Congress should finally get over their obsession with letting Wall Street prey on Main Street to make a quick buck.”
Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone
“Among the biggest losers in this decision is the conservative Fifth Circuit that gleefully advanced this lawsuit from predatory lenders and has sided with industry over consumers in a number of cases citing the same baseless arguments,” added Ciccone. “The Fifth Circuit’s credibility continues to suffer as it willingly plays along with industry judge and venue shopping schemes that corrupt our judicial system. Others with egg on their face include every conservative in Congress pushing bills to roll back consumer protections based on false notions about the CFPB’s constitutionality. These lawmakers should finally put consumers first rather than the financial industry lobbyists that bankrolled their campaigns.”
BACKGROUND:
CFPB v CFSA: Payday Industry Plaintiff Packed With Criminals and Crooks
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