Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The federal agency responsible for consumer financial protection, currently developing rules to address coerced debt nationally. - Pursuing federal rulemaking on coerced debt

For decades, abusers have weaponized debt against their victims—opening credit cards in partners' names, forcing them to sign loan documents under threat, running up charges they never agreed to. Even after escaping the relationship, survivors remained legally responsible for debts they never chose to incur. Starting February 16, 2026, New York joins seven other states in giving survivors a way out: creditors can no longer collect debts incurred through fraud, duress, or coercion, and survivors can dispute these debts with legal protection.

Updated Feb 16

The federal agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from predatory financial practices. - Operations severely curtailed, facing existential threat

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau returned $21 billion to defrauded Americans over its 14-year existence. Now the agency that Elizabeth Warren built is fighting for survival, its workforce slashed from 1,700 to roughly 200, its budget cut in half, and federal judges the only barrier between it and extinction.

Updated Feb 12