Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, under the acting leadership of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, will not oppose a preliminary injunction granted by the Eastern District of Texas against the Rohit Chopra-led CFPB’s rule to ban medical debt from credit reports—putting the rule on hold for 90 days and holding off litigation for three months—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The Trump Administration’s CFPB, now run by Scott Bessent, is handing big banks and healthcare billionaires a free pass to fleece hardworking Americans,” said Nidhi Hegde, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Forty percent of Americans have received at least one inaccurate medical bill, and millions are charged for care that insurance should have covered. In finalizing the medical debt rule, the CFPB is doing exactly what Congress created it to—stopping ‘too big to care’ corporations from ruining Americans’ finances. By halting this rule, the Trump administration is ensuring that medical debt continues to be weaponized against patients — keeping inaccurate and unfair bills on credit reports and making it harder for millions of Americans to access housing, transportation, and even jobs.”

“Bessent’s decision to halt all ongoing agency work and new reporting indicating that the agency will not defend other common sense rules issued by the CFPB raises questions about whether the Trump administration is on the side of consumers or on the side of massive financial institutions preying on them,” added Hegde.

The CFPB’s rule to ban medical debt from credit reporting, finalized after extensive public input, would have removed $49 billion in medical debt from credit reports — helping nearly 15 million Americans across the country.

Scott Bessent was designated Acting Director of the CFPB on Monday, and immediately sent an email ordering staff to stop all rulemaking, enforcement action, communications, litigation, and other activities—effectively demanding a complete freeze of the agency’s work. The CFPB was pursuing a number of important consumer protection actions — many in line with President Trump’s priorities. It was investigating violations by major banks like Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo and others. The Bureau was advancing a rule to eliminate politically-motivated debanking through fine print restrictions on constitutional rights, and had recently opened a public comment docket to receive public input on credit card interest rates, terms, and conditions—a first step towards potential government action on credit card interest rates.

Learn more about the CFPB’s accomplishments under previous Director Rohit Chopra here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.