CFPB Proposes Cutting 556 Staff While FTC Warns PayPal, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard About Debanking
Summary
The CFPB has proposed cutting its workforce to 556 employees from the current 1,100, citing funding limits in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The FTC, meanwhile, has issued warning letters to PayPal, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard admonishing them to ensure their policies do not deny consumers access to financial products based on political views, religious views, or other First Amendment-protected activity. The FTC has also proposed a significant budget increase for its Financial Services section within the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
What changed
The CFPB has proposed reducing its workforce by 556 positions, bringing headcount from 1,100 to 556 employees, citing compliance with funding limits in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The agency, which had 1,700 employees at the end of the Biden administration, is currently engaged in litigation with the National Treasury Employees Union over these changes.
In parallel, the FTC has taken an increasingly active role in consumer financial protection. The FTC issued warning letters to PayPal, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard cautioning them not to allow financial institutions using their payment networks to deny consumers access based on political or religious views or other First Amendment-protected activity. The FTC has also proposed one of the largest budget increases for its Financial Services section in its annual budget request to Congress, signaling continued activity in this space.
What to do next
- Monitor for updates on CFPB staffing changes and their impact on enforcement activities
- Monitor FTC guidance on debanking policies and ensure compliance with FTC Act requirements
Archived snapshot
Apr 12, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
April 10, 2026
Consumer Protection Roundup
Mercedes Kelley Tunstall Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP + Follow Contact LinkedIn Facebook X Send Embed
In this article, we'll delve into recent news on financial consumer protection, but before doing so, we'll provide an update on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
We reported in the January 15 issue of Cabinet that Acting Director Russell Vought asked for funding to keep the CFPB open. Since then, not much has happened at the agency, other than its continued litigation with the National Treasury Employees Union. Citing the need to conform with the funding limits and restricted scope allocated to the CFPB in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the CFPB told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that it was proposing to “right-size” the agency and proposed a cut to 556 employees, down from 1,100 employees currently, and from the 1,700 employees the CFPB had at the end of the Biden administration.
With more than year having gone by while the CFPB has been hobbled, we are now beginning to see how much other agencies and states are jumping into the breach left behind. Keeping in mind that new investigations can take many months before becoming public, so far we have not seen much activity in financial consumer protection at the state level,
However, we have seen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) take some actions in the space, and based upon what has been submitted to Congress for its budget next year, it looks as though the FTC is planning to continue being similarly active. This is because in its budget request submitted to Congress (i.e., the FTC is subject to allocations every year), they have proposed to give the Financial Services section of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection one of the largest budget increases
To date, the FTC has been mostly focused upon taking action to prevent companies from facilitating fraud, such as when it took action against U.K.-based payment processor, Paddle.com, to prevent them from continuing process payment for telemarketers engaged in fraudulent tech-support. And, more recently, the FTC has issued warning letters to PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard warning them to be careful to ensure that their rules and policies do not deny consumers access to financial products or services based upon their “political or religious views” or other “First Amendment-protected activity” in a manner that would violate the FTC Act, and admonishing them to not “countenance unlawful debanking” by financial institutions with which they interact.
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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Contact + Follow Mercedes Kelley Tunstall + Follow more less
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