Why you should NOT file CFPB complaint to fix your credit. — Transcript

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1. 0:00My name is Omar Clark, [music] founder
2. 0:01of the Bureau Bullies.
3. 0:03I've been in the credit space for well
4. 0:05over 10 years now. [music] Through
5. 0:06multiple failures, I've learned how to
6. 0:08beat these companies at their own game.
7. 0:10And now we're going to put together
8. 0:11[music] an action plan. We built this
9. 0:13platform to empower consumers to fight
10. 0:15back against [music] inaccurate credit
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12. 0:18system that depends on you not knowing
13. 0:20your rights. Through education strategy
14. 0:22and consumer law [music] awareness,
15. 0:24we've helped consumers remove millions
16. 0:25of dollars worth of debt from their
17. 0:26credit reports, and we show everyday
18. 0:28working-class people how to sue them and
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20. 0:31slogan is simple, sue them all. From the
21. 0:34United States to communities around the
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23. 0:37[music] to help consumers stop being
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25. 0:40rights, and take their power back.
26. 0:44Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to another
27. 0:46episode of the Bureau Bullies Podcast,
28. 0:49aka Sue Them All. A lot of people have
29. 0:52been reaching out to me asking about the
30. 0:53CFPB. This is a very, very important
31. 0:56topic because at one point in the credit
32. 0:57industry,
33. 0:58>> [snorts]
34. 0:59>> uh almost everybody was utilizing it to
35. 1:01get results in the credit industry,
36. 1:02which I was one of those people. I can
37. 1:04make the argument that I was one of the
38. 1:05people that kind of ushered in the use
39. 1:07of the CFPB cuz most people did not know
40. 1:09what it was.
41. 1:10But, over the last 2 years, I have not
42. 1:13used the CFPB for a host of reasons. The
43. 1:16main reason is the CFPB is no longer
44. 1:18effective. And the reason why it's no
45. 1:19longer effective is because there have
46. 1:22been powerful forces at play,
47. 1:25uh publicly and behind the scenes, who
48. 1:27have done certain things to undercut the
49. 1:30CFPB. Now, initially, when the Trump
50. 1:32administration came into power, their
51. 1:35goal was to completely dismantle the
52. 1:37CFPB, but they didn't know you you would
53. 1:39think a president would notice, but they
54. 1:40did not know that a president doesn't
55. 1:43have the power to dismantle that type of
56. 1:45government agency without a without an
57. 1:47official act of Congress. But, what he
58. 1:49ended up realizing was he does have the
59. 1:50power to understaff the CFPB. Now,
60. 1:53before we officially jump into that,
61. 1:54we're going to talk about the history of
62. 1:55the CFPB so most people can see and
63. 1:57understand uh the use of the CFPB and
64. 2:00why it's it was really important, a very
65. 2:02important tool for the average consumer.
66. 2:04Now, I don't know if most people
67. 2:05remember, in 2008, we had possibly, at
68. 2:08least in my lifetime, the biggest
69. 2:09financial crash ever. We're not going to
70. 2:11get heavily into the history of that,
71. 2:13but we know that banks were just giving
72. 2:15loans out to anybody, whether you could
73. 2:17pay the loan or not. And not only were
74. 2:19they giving loans out to anybody, they
75. 2:21were putting these insane balloon
76. 2:23payments on people who already couldn't
77. 2:25afford the loan they were getting in the
78. 2:26first place. This caused the financial
79. 2:28crash to the 2008. Now, we fast forward,
80. 2:31Barack Obama comes into office. When he
81. 2:33comes into office, he signs in the
82. 2:35Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
83. 2:37Consumer Protection Act. Now, people
84. 2:39think Obama was the complete usher of
85. 2:41the CFPB, he was not. The real person
86. 2:43behind that was Elizabeth Warren. But
87. 2:45what he The reason why he signed it in
88. 2:47was much like similar to we can say
89. 2:49similar to what happened in 1933. Was
90. 2:51Obama had to restore the public
91. 2:54confidence banking system. Now, if
92. 2:56you've been reading the Fair Credit
93. 2:57Reporting Act, you know that this is
94. 2:58FCRA language or federal consumer
95. 3:00language about restoring confidence in
96. 3:02public banking, because if the consumers
97. 3:04don't trust the banking system, this
98. 3:06entire system collapses. So, in order
99. 3:09for him to restore the public
100. 3:10confidence, he had to show the consumer
101. 3:11that they had some kind of power. Now,
102. 3:13the average person can't just get up and
103. 3:15go at a bank, that's very hard to do.
104. 3:17So, he created a regulatory agency or
105. 3:19signed into law a regulatory agency,
106. 3:20which we know as the Consumer Financial
107. 3:22Protection Bureau, aka the CFPB. And
108. 3:24what it's used for is if, you know, your
109. 3:26one complaint is not going to change the
110. 3:28world. It would it would get you
111. 3:29results, but what it really was was a
112. 3:31watchdog. So, if enough people file
113. 3:33complaints at this one bank, let's say
114. 3:35uh Wells Fargo, if the CFPB gets enough
115. 3:38complaints, then the CFPB will look into
116. 3:39that and they investigate, and a lot of
117. 3:41times that will result in them suing
118. 3:43that particular company, and every
119. 3:44consumer that was affected would get
120. 3:45paid out, especially if you submitted a
121. 3:47complaint. This is a very powerful tool.
122. 3:49Not only that, you could also use it for
123. 3:51things like Experian TransUnion Equifax.
124. 3:53Lots of people fix their credit using
125. 3:55the CFPB and I myself fixed lots of
126. 3:57people's credit using the CFPB. Now,
127. 3:59does the Trump administration have a
128. 4:01personal vendetta against people fixing
129. 4:03their credit? I don't think so. I think
130. 4:04their vendetta is the people who are
131. 4:06behind Trump who fund everything that he
132. 4:09has going on. Now, most people think
133. 4:11that the CFPB is just used for credit
134. 4:15compliance, banking compliance, etc.
135. 4:17It's not. And I make the argument that
136. 4:19we didn't get to see it was going to be
137. 4:20used for companies like OpenAI and like
138. 4:23it was going to be used to regulate
139. 4:24artificial intelligence. And so, one of
140. 4:27Trump's biggest donors, you always have
141. 4:28to follow the money, is Greg Brockman,
142. 4:30the president of OpenAI. And if you
143. 4:32don't think that he had a hand in
144. 4:33dismantling the CFPB along with Elon
145. 4:35Musk cuz Elon Musk is getting a lot of
146. 4:37regulatory trouble. They just put the
147. 4:39money up for the Trump administration to
148. 4:41undercut and understaff the CFPB, which
149. 4:44is which was in my opinion was the most
150. 4:46powerful watchdog in my lifetime. I like
151. 4:48to say it's the watchdog that's stopped
152. 4:50barking. Because the CFPB still exists,
153. 4:52a lot of people are still submitting
154. 4:53complaints, but the complaints aren't
155. 4:55getting anywhere because they don't have
156. 4:56the staffing to do anything about it.
157. 4:58So, for instance, something that was a
158. 5:00big headline was Experian being sued by
159. 5:03the CFPB. You're not really hearing much
160. 5:04about that. I don't know if y'all know,
161. 5:06but there were well over uh 22 cases
162. 5:09that the CFPB was overseeing as far as
163. 5:12different banks and things. Capital One
164. 5:13being one of them. They just completely
165. 5:15disappeared. Trump made them disappear
166. 5:17overnight. What a Biden Biden era rule
167. 5:20as far as overdraft fees, right? And I
168. 5:22think overdraft fee is one of the most
169. 5:25horrible things on the planet because
170. 5:26you're charging a person who's already
171. 5:27proved they can't afford uh whatever
172. 5:29they were trying to purchase in the
173. 5:30first place. Now, you're going to put
174. 5:31them even further in a hole for not
175. 5:32being You're penalizing somebody for not
176. 5:34having money. And a Biden uh era rule
177. 5:37really helped with that and people who
178. 5:39uh went through it could file a CFPB
179. 5:40complaint and get monetary relief and
180. 5:42get their money back. Another one,
181. 5:43medical debts were no longer allowed on
182. 5:45credit reports. The Trump administration
183. 5:47came in, undercut the CFPB, and then
184. 5:50Matt Ruling was reversed, and now
185. 5:53medical debts are allowed back on credit
186. 5:54reports. So, we're going to look at a
187. 5:56brief timeline of the breaking down of
188. 5:59the CFPB. So, in February, well, you
189. 6:01know, let's go back. Maybe we'll say
190. 6:03December of 2025, it was rumored that
191. 6:06there were going to be funding cuts.
192. 6:07Trump attempted to fire everybody, but a
193. 6:09federal judge, not a Supreme Court
194. 6:11judge, a federal judge signed a order
195. 6:13reversing the fire. So, people were
196. 6:15fired, then they came back. So, if you
197. 6:17filed a complaint during that time
198. 6:19people were fired, you're literally your
199. 6:21complaint would just say you'd be in a
200. 6:23waiting period. And And it was like that
201. 6:24for the whole 30 days those people were
202. 6:25laid off. November, I mean, November is
203. 6:28when the Mass Furloughs happened, then
204. 6:30December the judge reversed them. Then
205. 6:32we jump to February. February 2025, the
206. 6:34new director that Trump put in place put
207. 6:36a stop work order, right? And what that
208. 6:39stop work order did was it nearly halted
209. 6:41all operations. So, even if you were
210. 6:44there, you were not allowed to enforce
211. 6:45anything. So, people who were filing
212. 6:47CFPB CFPB complaints at that time,
213. 6:49literally, they were being submitted,
214. 6:51and the people were allowed They were at
215. 6:52work, they were still clocked in, but
216. 6:53they couldn't do anything about it. And
217. 6:55then in April 2025, the leadership moves
218. 6:58to lay off 88% of staff. After that,
219. 7:01that's when the overdraft fee cap and
220. 7:02payment app oversight is repealed
221. 7:04completely. And then in July of 2025,
222. 7:06medical debts off the credit report
223. 7:09rule is completely reversed. Now, what
224. 7:11Trump did, and I And I can't just say
225. 7:13it's Trump, but his entire
226. 7:14administration didn't everybody who's
227. 7:15behind it. The CFPB had a annual budget
228. 7:19of about 785 million, give or take. All
229. 7:22of that went toward mostly paying their
230. 7:23employees. And And when you they pay
231. 7:25their employees, the investigations get
232. 7:27done, etc. And then, you know, enough
233. 7:29things are complained about, such as
234. 7:31Equifax, the
235. 7:32I mean, such as Experian, the CFPB steps
236. 7:34in, sues them, as we see. So, they
237. 7:35dropped the funding from 785 million to
238. 7:40446 million, almost half. Then he cut
239. 7:4353% of the workforce. So not only do you
240. 7:45see that the CFPB no longer have the
241. 7:47budget to maintain the normal capacity
242. 7:49that it has, but now it no longer has
243. 7:51the workforce to maintain the work
244. 7:53that's needed to be done to enforce all
245. 7:55of this. There were over 22 cases
246. 7:58against the biggest banks that we know,
247. 8:00most of the ones we hate, most of the
248. 8:01ones that are taking advantage of the
249. 8:03average consumer. Every single last one
250. 8:05except for two were dropped. One of
251. 8:07them, the I mean the other two were
252. 8:08transferred to the DOJ and are just in
253. 8:10limbo. Nobody knows what's going to
254. 8:11happen with them.
255. 8:12>> So, looking at the inner workings of the
256. 8:15Department of Justice, I can almost
257. 8:17assure you they're not going to do
258. 8:18anything about this stuff, right? On
259. 8:20paper, the CFPB as a system looks
260. 8:23completely fine cuz, you know, the
261. 8:25website is up, which is maybe 10% of
262. 8:27what the CFPB does,
263. 8:29or did, I should say.
264. 8:31But, in 2025 alone, they received over
265. 8:356.6
266. 8:37million complaints, double what they
267. 8:39received in 2024, but they have less
268. 8:41than 60% of their enforcement agency
269. 8:44left. So you can only imagine the
270. 8:45workload on the few employees that are
271. 8:47there. Now they have double the
272. 8:48workload, less the funding, and less
273. 8:51help. Now in 2024, 99% of complaints
274. 8:55were answered on time, within 15 days,
275. 8:57by the companies. That has completely
276. 8:59dropped in 2025. So now we're looking at
277. 9:03a time where the complaint rate has
278. 9:05doubled, there are more things to
279. 9:07complain about as you can see, because
280. 9:09under the Trump administration, most of
281. 9:11these companies have gotten a level of
282. 9:14boldness that they've had before, but it
283. 9:16wasn't as public. At least it was
284. 9:18something they would hide, right? So for
285. 9:19example, because we're in the credit
286. 9:21space, we mostly only use the CFPB for
287. 9:23submitting these credit disputes. But,
288. 9:26I've had situations in my personal life
289. 9:28where I use a payment processor such as
290. 9:30PayPal, and they held thousands of
291. 9:32dollars, and I used the CFPB to get it
292. 9:34back. So let's say I was waiting, I
293. 9:36can't remember the exact time. Maybe
294. 9:37wait 90 days, but I submitted that
295. 9:39complaint and that money was released in
296. 9:41a week. So, I say that to say that level
297. 9:43of enforcement is no longer going. So,
298. 9:45God forbid another situation like that
299. 9:46happens, what am I supposed to do in
300. 9:48that situation? Now, that's just for a
301. 9:51business owner with a payment processor.
302. 9:53What about the average consumer who has
303. 9:56an issue with a bank such as overdraft
304. 9:58fees, uh illegal late payments, um
305. 10:02discrimination? What are they supposed
306. 10:04to do? Where it at a point where it's
307. 10:06not just a CFPB, but even our state
308. 10:08level attorney generals, they have
309. 10:10become loyal to their own cult. So, if
310. 10:12this guy might be a MAGA guy and you
311. 10:15submitted a complaint against a a
312. 10:16company that maybe Trump might be in
313. 10:18their pocket, you're SOL. I'm not going
314. 10:20to say it on YouTube, but you can Google
315. 10:22what that means. All right? Now, as far
316. 10:24as what we're looking at with the CFPB,
317. 10:26the data shows that the consumers who
318. 10:30complain about credit-related complaints
319. 10:33have taken the biggest hit as a result
320. 10:35of the CFPB being understaffed, all
321. 10:37right? So, the that's far, this is just
322. 10:40thus far. 20% of the complaints that
323. 10:43have been submitted, only 1% have been
324. 10:45resolved in the consumer's favor. That's
325. 10:48a very low percentage. So, you have a
326. 10:49better chance just not doing it. All
327. 10:51right? So, the biggest thing is that
328. 10:54what I tell people because most people
329. 10:56say, "Well, okay, if the CFPB doesn't
330. 10:57exist, what am I supposed to do?" What I
331. 10:59tell people is the best thing to do is
332. 11:01not a FTC complaint, it's not a small
333. 11:03claims court, it's not start doing
334. 11:05chargebacks. I wouldn't even say go to
335. 11:07your state regulators. The best thing
336. 11:09you can do is to sue in federal court
337. 11:11because the federal courts aren't going
338. 11:12anywhere. They're not going to
339. 11:14disappear, even if Trump tried to
340. 11:16understaff, which he really can't, it
341. 11:18wouldn't really change anything. This
342. 11:19federal court is just going to exist as
343. 11:21long as our system exists.
344. 11:23Now, when a Democrat comes into office,
345. 11:25do I think the CFPB will make a
346. 11:27turnaround? Maybe, but we can't wait for
347. 11:28that. Most people need results right
348. 11:30now. So, as it stands right now, the
349. 11:33CFPB is no longer, in my opinion, a
350. 11:35useful tool. Um you can't do much with
351. 11:37it, and much like everything else in
352. 11:38life, it's just a situation where the
353. 11:40consumers, and all of us, have to just
354. 11:42pivot and do what's working. And what's
355. 11:44working right now is federal lawsuits,
356. 11:46and I believe they will be working for
357. 11:47the foreseeable future. So, I want to
358. 11:49thank you all for attending another
359. 11:50episode of The Bureau Brief Podcast, aka
360. 11:54Sue Them All, and I will see you all on
361. 11:56the next episode. Keep in mind, I'm not
362. 11:58an attorney, and I do not give legal
363. 12:00advice.