CFPB Staff Return Plan Signals Agency Is Still Standing

Staffers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) are reportedly heading back to the office.

The move comes more than a year after the White House shuttered the financial regulator’s headquarters in Washington, Reuters reported Tuesday (May 12), citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

The return-to-office plan for the CFPB hasn’t yet been announced to staff and timing remains uncertain, the sources added.

The bureau’s headquarters are now partially occupied by the Office of Management and Budget, whose director, Russell Vought, also heads the CFPB, sources told Reuters. It is not clear whether staff would be recalled to CFPB headquarters and whether the order would apply to CFPB staff based outside D.C., three of the sources said.

PYMNTS has contacted the CFPB for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The Trump administration in February canceled the CFPB headquarters’ lease and turned the property over to the General Services Administration.

According to the report, administration officials say they have scaled back plans to cut the bureau’s staff after calling for the CFPB’s elimination. That effort was blocked by a court order.

However, Reuters adds, many CFPB staffers have left the agency, with its work cut back and its future unclear. Staffing levels are down around 30% since Trump returned to office last year, the report said, citing court filings.

As the report notes, President Donald Trump and other administration officials have characterized the CFPB as politicized and a burden on private enterprise. The agency’s defenders say efforts to shutter the CFPB will hurt consumers.

Meanwhile, the agency’s work continues. Last month, PYMNTS reported on the CFPB’s 2025 Consumer Response Annual Report.

It showed that of the more than 6.6 million complaints filed last year, 88% of them were related to credit or consumer reporting, with the number of complaints doubling each year since 2023.

The increase in complaints, that report added, coincides with a consumer base that’s becoming more attentive. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that credit scores are a “central financial objective” among consumers. The data shows that improving credit scores is the most common reason consumers look for new credit products, whether that means cards, mortgages and installment options.

“Yet the same data reveals a disconnect between perception and reality. Forty-two percent of consumers believe they would be denied for a new credit card, a figure nearly three times higher than actual denial rates among those without cards,” PYMNTS wrote.

“Consumers self-select out of credit opportunities, and when they do engage, they scrutinize outcomes more closely, particularly when scores do not align with their expectations.”