Complaints rise, relief falls as CFPB cuts hit tri-state consumers

My checking account has been closed with about $6,000 still in the account. All my credit cards were closed without explanation. I have been using these cards for 20 years. These are the stories of tri-state residents who say financial institutions treated them unfairly, prompting them to turn to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help. Accounts and debts were reporting under my name that I did not authorize or create. But funding for the CFPB was cut by 46% last year. And those cuts. appear to be impacting consumers here. Canyon Recorder crunched the data on consumer complaints from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. We found complaints increased by 29% in this past year, but the number of consumers getting relief went down by 17%. Right now, more people are filing complaints, but distinctly fewer are getting a resolution. Adam Rust is with the Consumer Federation of America. He notes the CFPB has also closed roughly 40% of the investigations that were in progress and rolled back dozens of settlements that were already on the books. The CFPB has stepped in under this administration to say, we're sorry, we take it back. We're canceling that penalty, literally taking things away from people when we know there's been wrongdoing. We asked the CFPB for comment. The agency did not respond. But in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee over the summer, the agency's acting director said he believed under the Biden administration, the CFPB had overstepped its authority. He says the agency is now only targeting clear-cut cases of direct harm to consumers. But that is an explanation some consumer advocates reject. It's not as if getting by in today's economy is easier than it used to be. It's distinctly harder, and lots of people are struggling. So it's really the wrong time for a regulator to take its foot off the gas. In your corner, Walt Kane, News 12.