Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The **Consumer Financial Protection Bureau** (**CFPB**) is an agency of the United States government. It was established by President Barack Obama in 2011.

## What do they do?

It is responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. They work within banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortgage-servicing operations, foreclosure relief services, debt collectors and other financial companies operating in the United States.

## Creation

The CFPB's creation was made by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, whose passage in 2010 was a legislative response to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and the eventual Great Recession. The CFPB was established as an independent agency, but this status is being reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

## Leadership

The CFPB is headed by a director who is appointed by the President for a five-year term. The bureau is also assisted by a Consumer Advisory Council, which is composed of at least six members who are recommended by regional Federal Reserve presidents.

The first director of the CFPB was Ohio politician Richard Cordray who served from 2012 through 2017. The current Acting Director is Russell Vought since February 7, 2025. On February 11, 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Jonathan McKernan to serve as director.

## 2020 Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court of the United State (SCOTUS), in a 5-to-4 decision, ruled June 29, 2020, that the structure of the CFPB violates the separation-of-powers clause of the constitution since the bill directed that the CFPB director could be removed by the president only for "cause," defined as "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.

## List of directors

- Status

|No.|Portrait|Name|State of residence|Took office|Left office|Tenure|colspan="2"|Presidents||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|–||Elizabeth Warren|Massachusetts|September 17, 2010|August 1, 2011||rowspan="3" style="background: blue"||rowspan="3" style="background:white;"|Barack Obama||||
|–||Raj Date|District of Columbia|August 1, 2011|January 4, 2012|||||||||
|rowspan="2" style="background: ;"||rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Richard Cordray|rowspan="2"|Ohio|rowspan="2"|January 4, 2012|rowspan="2"|November 24, 2017|height="45px"||
|<small>( total)</small>|rowspan="4" style="background: red"||rowspan="4"|Donald Trump||||||||||
||–||Leandra English|New York|align=center colspan=2 bgcolor="#E6E6AA"|November 25, 2017||||||||
||–||Mick Mulvaney|South Carolina|November 25, 2017|December 11, 2018||||||||
|style="background: ;"|||Kathy Kraninger|Ohio|December 11, 2018|January 20, 2021||||||||
|–||Dave Uejio|District of Columbia|January 20, 2021|October 12, 2021||rowspan="2" style="background: blue"||rowspan="2" style="background:white;"|Joe Biden||||
|rowspan=2 style="background: ;"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Rohit Chopra|rowspan=2|District of Columbia|rowspan=2|October 12, 2021|rowspan=2|February 1, 2025|height="45px"||
|<small>( total)</small>|rowspan="5" style="background: red"||rowspan="5" style="background:white;"|Donald Trump||||||||||
|–||Zixta Martinez|Texas|February 1, 2025|February 3, 2025|||||||||
|–||Scott Bessent|South Carolina|February 3, 2025|February 7, 2025|||||||||
|–||Russell Vought|Virginia|February 7, 2025|_Incumbent_|||||||||
|style="background: ;"|||Jonathan McKernan|Tennessee|colspan="3"|TBD||||||||