The Shocking Shutdown of a Consumer Guardian

You've found your dream retirement home. It's a cozy place. Cool ocean breezes at night. You can see yourself relaxing in it. Just one day before you close the deal, the bank hits you with a surprising fee. You didn't see it coming. You couldn't find it anywhere in the paperwork. Sound unfair? It is. This exact thing happened to Linda Wetzel in 2012. She was on the verge of retiring to Southport, N. C. , when the bank made the loan and she found an unexpected fee. She looked everywhere in the paperwork. She couldn't find it. She took action. She contacted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau online. This bureau has been in operation since 2011. It advocates for consumers. It enforces rules. It fights for fairness and transparency in financial dealings. In a month, the bank sent her a $5, 600 check. The bureau got that money back for her. A refund might not seem like a big deal for some people. But this is Linda's story. It's worth a lot more to her. $5, 600 was a savings buffer. It was a nest egg for her mortgage. She had been saving for a long time. It was her retirement fund. All that money had a purpose. She was going to live in the retirement home. It's worth looking at the bigger picture. The bureau's refund isn't just about $5, 600. In total, the bureau has helped get $21 billion for consumers. They've stood up for people like Linda. They've forced changes. They've changed overdraft fees. The bureau has reformed student loan servicing. They've made mortgage lending rules easier to understand. Banks and money transmitters have had to compensate fraud victims. They have been forced to do so by the bureau. The bureau has forced banks to reveal fees publicly in plain language. Banks have to explain fees. Banks and other financial institutions have to be transparent. They have to tell consumers about fees. They have to explain them clearly. The bureau has made that happen. It's a powerful tool. It's a safety net. It's a guardian that looks out for all of our best interests. But the bureau was abruptly shut down 36 hours after its leader, Russell Vought, took charge. You may wonder why it happened. Maybe it's time to question whether we should trust politics to govern our money.