A court orders the CFPB's funding restored. Here is what that does and does not change for you
On September 25, 2026, a federal judge in Oregon held that the administration's decision to stop funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was unlawful. The ruling matters for the agency's complaint portal, supervision and enforcement, and it is on appeal. It does not change your own rights: the FDCPA and the FCRA let you sue a collector or credit bureau directly, with or without the CFPB.
People sometimes ask us whether it is still worth complaining about a debt collector, given the news about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The short answer is yes, and the reason is not the CFPB. Congress wrote a consumer's right to sue into the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act themselves. Those rights belong to you, not to the agency.
This post covers what the Oregon court decided, how the CFPB changed in 2025, and what it means if a collector is calling you or a debt is wrong on your credit report.
What the court decided
The CFPB requests its funding from the Federal Reserve. In 2025, the Bureau's acting director stopped requesting those funds, taking the position that the Federal Reserve had no "combined earnings" to draw from.
A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. On September 25, 2026, Judge Ann Aiken granted them summary judgment. According to American Banker's report of the decision, she held that "combined earnings" means the Federal Reserve's gross revenue before interest expenses, and that the funding decisions were contrary to law, amounted to unlawfully withheld agency action, and violated the constitutional separation of powers. New Jersey's Attorney General, one of the plaintiffs, described the order as telling the agency to "fund the CFPB."
This was not the first ruling of its kind. American Banker reports that a federal court in Washington, D.C. had enjoined the defunding effort in a case brought by the employees' union, and that a federal court in Northern California ruled in March 2026 that the Justice Department's legal opinion behind it was arbitrary and capricious. Appeals are pending, including in the Ninth Circuit.
On appeal, not final
A district court ruling can be stayed, narrowed or reversed. Do not plan around what the CFPB will or will not do next. Plan around your own deadlines, which do not wait for the appeal.
How the CFPB changed in 2025
The funding fight is one part of a larger shift. Three changes matter most to people dealing with collectors and credit bureaus.
- Cases dropped. On February 27, 2025, the CFPB dismissed its lawsuit against Capital One with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, and dropped other cases, including one against a student loan servicer accused of collecting on loans that had been discharged (NBC News). New Jersey's Attorney General later noted that the CFPB permanently dropped its case against the auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation in 2025, and that the states stepped in and settled it in September 2026.
- Guidance withdrawn. On May 12, 2025, the CFPB withdrew a long list of guidance documents (Federal Register 2025-08286). The list includes advisory opinions on collecting medical debt, time-barred debt, pay-to-pay fees and name-only matching by credit bureaus, and a circular on reasonable investigation of credit disputes.
- State law pushed back. On October 28, 2025, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule saying the FCRA broadly preempts state credit reporting laws. Our post on medical debt and credit reports covers that one.
None of these changed a statute. Withdrawing an advisory opinion on time-barred debt, for example, does not repeal Regulation F's ban on suing or threatening to sue on a time-barred debt (12 C.F.R. § 1006.26(b)). Dropping a case against a servicer does not make collecting on a discharged loan lawful. It means the government is not the one pursuing it.
What never depended on the CFPB
The FDCPA and the FCRA each give a consumer a private right of action. You do not need an agency to file first, agree with you, or approve your case.
| Law | What you can recover | Deadline to sue |
|---|---|---|
| FDCPA (collectors) | Actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000, costs and a reasonable attorney's fee (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)) | One year from the violation (§ 1692k(d)) |
| FCRA, willful (bureaus, furnishers) | Actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages, costs and fees (15 U.S.C. § 1681n(a)) | Two years after discovery, five years at most (§ 1681p) |
| FCRA, negligent | Actual damages, costs and fees (§ 1681o(a)) | Same |
The FDCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The FCRA does the same. That fee rule is the reason private enforcement works without a government budget: the cost of the case falls on the company that broke the law, if the consumer wins.
State law adds more. In New York, General Business Law § 349 gives a consumer a claim for deceptive practices, and since February 17, 2026 the Attorney General can also go after unfair and abusive ones. In Florida, the FCCPA reaches original creditors as well as collectors. In New York City, new collection rules took effect on September 1, 2026; see our post on the NYC rules. The New York, New Jersey and Florida pages explain each.
What to do now
- Keep your own record. A CFPB complaint can be useful, but it is not evidence you control. Save letters, voicemails, screenshots and a dated call history. The call log keeps it in one place.
- Watch the one-year clock. An FDCPA claim runs one year from the violation, and there is no discovery rule. A pending complaint does not pause it.
- Dispute in writing. For credit report errors, send a written dispute to the bureau. It must reinvestigate, generally within 30 days. See how to dispute your credit report.
- If you have been sued, do not ignore the papers. The answer deadline is short. See sued by a debt collector.
The FDCPA
What collectors may not do, and what the statute lets you recover.
Read →The FCRA
Accuracy, disputes and damages for credit report errors.
Read →All news
Every dated change since 2024, with sources.
Read →Sources: American Banker, "Another judge rejects Trump's attempt to halt CFPB funding," Sept. 28, 2026 (link); New Jersey Attorney General release, Sept. 26, 2026 (link); NBC News, Feb. 27, 2025 (link); New Jersey Attorney General release on Credit Acceptance, Sept. 17, 2026 (link); 90 Fed. Reg., FR Doc. 2025-08286 (May 12, 2025) (text); 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681i, 1681n, 1681o, 1681p, 1692k; 12 C.F.R. § 1006.26(b).
Common questions
Can I still file a complaint with the CFPB?
The ruling concerns the agency's funding, and the complaint portal depends on that funding. Whatever happens on appeal, a complaint to the CFPB is not a lawsuit and does not stop the deadline on your own claim. An FDCPA claim must be filed within one year of the violation.
If the CFPB dropped cases, are collectors now allowed to do those things?
No. When an agency drops a case, the statute does not change. The FDCPA and the FCRA still prohibit the same conduct, and both give consumers their own right to sue. Withdrawn agency guidance is also not the law itself; the statutes and Regulation F still apply.
Who pays for a lawyer if the government is not bringing the case?
The FDCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and the FCRA does the same. That is why private cases can go forward even when an agency steps back.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.