Key Points
- Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought filed a revised workforce restructuring plan on March 31, 2026, asking a federal appeals court for permission to cut 618 of 1,174 current employees - keeping just 556 staff.
- This is a scaled-back version of earlier plans that would have eliminated roughly 90% of the agency.
- This plan was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals, which has blocked previous layoff attempts since March 2025.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Acting Director Russell Vought is asking a federal appeals court for permission to lay off more than half of the agency’s remaining workforce. While a significant reduction from previous layoff attempts, it does highlight the sentiment reported earlier this week that the CFPB is not going away.
In a motion filed March 31, 2026 (PDF File), the government presented a “Workforce Restructuring Plan” that would retain 556 of the CFPB’s 1,174 currently onboard employees. That’s a reduction of roughly 53% from current staffing levels.
The filing came at the request of Judge Cornelia Millett, who asked the government to share its downsizing plans with the court. Any headcount reductions at the agency are currently blocked by a preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court in March 2025, which required the CFPB to rehire terminated employees, reinstate canceled contracts, and refrain from further layoffs.
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From Near Shutdown To 50% Reduction In Workforce
The revised plan represents a shift from the administration’s earlier posture of eliminating the CFPB. When Acting Director Vought first took the helm of the agency in early 2025, the government was accused of attempting to shut the bureau down entirely. The district court found the CFPB was pursuing a “plan” to “shut the agency down entirely,” which formed the basis for the preliminary injunction.
In the new filing, the government explicitly states that “CFPB leadership will not close the agency” and that the revised plan “supersedes any and all previous plans regarding reductions-in-force and any prior decisions about the proper size or functioning of the agency.” Vought’s March 31 memorandum declares those earlier plans and decisions “null and void.”
The memorandum outlines, division by division, which statutory functions the agency will continue performing and how many employees are needed to carry them out.
Which Departments Would See The Biggest Cuts
The largest cuts in absolute terms would hit the Supervision Division, which would shrink from 350 onboard employees to 77 (a 78% reduction). The Enforcement Division would drop from 137 employees to 50, a 64% cut. The Operations Division would go from 255 to 133 employees.
Some offices would be nearly eliminated. The External Affairs Division would drop from 30 employees to just 5. The Director’s office would shrink from 62 to 15 staff.
The Legal Division is set to retain all 60 onboard employees, while Consumer Response and Education would keep 90 of 127 employees. The plan argues that Consumer Response is “largely automated” and can operate with fewer staff, especially as the CFPB implements additional technology to screen fraudulent and duplicate complaints.
The plan also reveals the CFPB has already dismissed or withdrawn from 41 enforcement actions filed under former Director Rohit Chopra, characterizing many as “agency overreach.” Only 8 enforcement cases remained pending as of December 31, 2025.
What This Means For Consumers
The CFPB was created by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 to protect consumers in the financial marketplace. It oversees banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, debt collectors, and other financial companies.
The agency’s Consumer Response division handles complaints from the public, the Enforcement division brings legal actions against companies that violate consumer financial laws, and the Supervision division conducts examinations of large financial institutions.
Under the proposed plan, the consumer complaint hotline and database would remain operational, and the agency says the Office of Financial Education would retain the majority of its staff. The government’s filing argues that none of the services plaintiffs in the case rely on (including complaint handling, educational resources, and the Student Loan Ombudsman) would be eliminated.
For borrowers, particularly those with student loans, the plan specifies that the Deputy Director will serve as the Student Loan Ombudsman.
The drastic reduction in supervision and enforcement staff raises questions about how aggressively the CFPB would police financial companies going forward. The plan envisions cutting supervisory exams from 107 in 2024 to 64 in 2026, with smaller teams conducting shorter, more targeted reviews. The agency says it will focus supervision on depository institutions, actual consumer fraud, and areas “clearly within its statutory authority”—a shift away from what the filing characterizes as “novel legal theories” pursued under the prior administration.
However, Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center, says “This latest attempt to eliminate essential staff at the CFPB would reduce the bureau to an empty shell, unable to fulfill the functions the CFPB is statutorily required to engage in. People need a strong, independent CFPB that is staffed to address unscrupulous practices by credit reporting companies, Wall Street banks, and big corporations.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the CFPB seeking court approval to lay off 50% of its employees?
The Trump Administration wants to reduce the size of the CFPB, but current lawsuits make that impossible without court approval.
How is this new layoff plan different from the earlier proposal to cut about 90% of CFPB staff?
This current plan is not an attempt to end the CFPB, but rather align it more with the current administration's priorities.
Which CFPB divisions would be most affected by the layoffs, and which areas will remain mostly intact?
The Supervision and Enforcement divisions would see the largest cuts, which are alarming to advocacy groups concerned about a lax oversight stance.
How could these layoffs affect the CFPB’s ability to supervise and enforce rules on banks, lenders, and other financial companies?
Have fewer personnel overseeing supervision and enforcement of regulated companies means that more consumer issues could slip through the cracks.
Will consumers still be able to file complaints with the CFPB, and how might response times change?
Yes, consumer complaints can still be filed with the CFPB, but with fewer staff members, it could take longer to resolve issues.
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Editor: Colin Graves
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
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