Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today joined a coalition of attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop the complete defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has returned more than $21 billion to defrauded consumers, slashed junk fees, and stopped predatory auto and mortgage lenders throughout its 14-year existence. The CFPB’s current acting director, Russel Vought, is attempting to completely defund the agency by refusing to request any funding from the Federal Reserve, which will virtually guarantee the agency runs out of money in January 2026.

Attorney General Raoul and the coalition argue that the CFPB has a legal requirement to collect and process consumer complaints and share that complaint data with states, and that Vought’s actions violate the law and the Constitution. Their lawsuit seeks a court order preventing the administration from completely defunding the CFPB. 

“The CFPB serves a uniquely important role as the federal government's dedicated watchdog for consumer protection in financial products and services,” Raoul said. “Consumers will ultimately pay the price if the CFPB’s oversight is removed. I stand with my fellow attorneys general to oppose the illegal attempts to dismantle this critical watchdog.”

Established in the wake of the Great Recession, the CFPB is an independent agency funded entirely by the Federal Reserve focused on regulating financial institutions and products to protect consumers. The CFPB writes and enforces rules to regulate financial institutions, collects critical economic data, and fields millions of consumer complaints every year. In addition, the CFPB is the only federal agency authorized to supervise the nation’s largest banks for their compliance with consumer financial protection laws.

Beyond its own consumer protection actions, the CFPB is legally mandated to provide vital information to states to aid their own consumer protection efforts. States rely on consumer complaints from the CFPB to investigate wrongdoing, secure refunds and restitution for consumers, and support their own litigation against financial institutions. For example, the CFPB collects demographic and geographic lending data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which states use to protect homebuyers from discriminatory lending. 

States also regularly refer consumer complaints to the CFPB for further assistance. As Attorney General Raoul and the coalition argue, completely defunding the CFPB will eliminate this important resource for resolving complaints and securing justice for cheated consumers.

Since its creation, the CFPB has worked with state attorneys general to address consumer issues related to banking, student loan servicers, mortgage servicers, auto lending and other consumer financial matters. The CFPB has partnered with attorneys general to stop deceptive, unfair and abusive conduct by companies, including joining with Raoul’s office and six other states to bring suit to stop an unlawful debt settlement scheme. The agency also partnered with Attorney General Raoul’s office and other attorneys general in investigating Navient and Nationstar Mortgage, known publicly as Mr. Cooper, for unfair and deceptive conduct in servicing student loans and mortgages respectively.

Attorney General Raoul and the coalition argue that Vought’s decision not to seek any funding for the CFPB is unlawful and unconstitutional. The CFPB has a legal obligation to provide states with consumer complaints – a duty it will not be able to fulfill without the necessary funds. Completely eliminating CFPB funding also violates the Separation of Powers principle, as the agency was established by Congress, which also created a process for it to regularly receive funding from the Federal Reserve. Attorney General Raoul and the coalition are seeking a court order preventing the administration from carrying out its decision not to request any funds for the CFPB and ordering the agency to request funding from the Federal Reserve to fulfill its duties as required by law.  

Joining Attorney General Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.