Up to 100 more workers are fired at CFPB as staff fear mass layoffs are looming

Some 70 to 100 employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were laid off Thursday, according to three current employees with knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified for fear of also being fired.

The employees laid off were term employees, meaning career staff whose positions are for a set length of time — at CFPB generally for two or four years. Their terminations comes after the CFPB earlier this week laid off about 73 recent employees as reported by NPR.

Two of the termination letters, which were shared with NPR by current and former staffers, said the staffers’ employment was terminated “due to Executive Order Implementing The President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative – The White House dated February 11, 2025.”

CFPB staff are hearing talk that much wider cuts to the organization are planned for Friday.

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Laurel Wamsley is covering what’s happening at CFPB. If you have a tip, you can contact her securely on Signal at laurel.96.

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Many inside the bureau, as well as outside consumer advocates, say it will be impossible to carry out the bureau’s statutory obligations if the staff size is significantly reduced.

Before the recent cuts, the bureau had approximately 1,700 employees. Earlier this week, around 70 probationary employees –- those who had been in their jobs less than one or two years – were terminated.

National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB staff, has filed a lawsuit against Russell Vought in his capacity as acting director of CFPB. Joining in the complaint are the National Consumer Law Center, the NAACP, and others.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs write, “The defendants are also preparing to conduct another mass firing, this time of over 95% of the Bureau’s employees. That would make it impossible for the Bureau to fulfill any of its statutorily required functions.”

CFPB has long been a target

Congress created CFPB in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as part of the bipartisan Dodd-Frank Act, and the bureau has many responsibilities it is legally obligated to perform. An analysis by the Student Borrower Protection Center and the Consumer Federation of America lists 87 Congressional mandates that CFPB is required to fulfill.

Those statutory mandates range from its high-level mission: the Bureau “shall regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the Federal consumer financial laws.” There are also specific requirements: For example, CFPB must establish an office that collects and monitors consumer complaints via a website and a toll-free telephone number.

The Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team, which is not an official department, have turned their efforts and attention to CFPB in recent days, largely following the same playbook they’ve used to raze USAID.

At USAID, all except a small number of staff were placed on administrative leave, a move that’s been put on pause by a federal judge through at least Feb. 21.

The layoffs at CFPB come as President Trump nominated Jonathan McKernan to be its next director. He would replace Vought, an architect of Project 2025 and the White House budget director who was named acting director late last week.

CFPB has been in tumult since last week, as staff were ordered by Vought to stop all work and the bureau’s headquarters has been shuttered for the week.

Many Republicans have long wanted to get rid of the agency since its creation. It has also antagonized many executives at Wall Street and Silicon Valley who say it is too heavy-handed with its regulation of banks, payment apps, and other financial products and services.

The bureau is part of the Federal System and receives its funding from the Federal Reserve.