Last year was one of changes and uncertainty on the regulatory front, as agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and others amended rules, reformed programs and rolled back regulations to align with the flurry of executive orders coming from the White House.

When asked if the CFPB will actually be shuttered in 2026, Loretta Salzano, founding partner of Franzén and Salzano, said she believes the CFPB will remain open, but with a “skeleton crew on the regulatory, supervision and enforcement teams working hard on fulfilling their statutory mandate and to close the loop on the recent proposed rulemaking.”

Charles “Chuck” Cain, noted title attorney and president of Alliance Solutions LLC, agreed that the bureau will “continue to reduce its capacity by wounding by a thousand cuts.”

Cain noted, however, that the bureau has shifted its focus to only acting on “bona fide consumer complaints and not intra-industry complaints. … We have seen some bureau activity and settlements recently but as announced, they were based off consumer complaints and actual harm.”

In Saul Ewing Partner Francis “Trip” Riley’s opinion, CFPB leadership doesn’t appear to be on the same page.

“On the one hand, bureau leadership claims that they are going to shut down operations, but on the other the bureau is issuing guidance and seemingly continuing efforts around planned rulemaking. If they really are intending to attempt a shutdown, the outward appearance of doing its job is a smokescreen,” he said. “However, only Congress can legally scrap the CFPB, as it was created pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. Therefore, it would take an act of Congress to repeal that section of the act to effectuate a shutdown.”

In contrast, Marx Sterbcow, managing attorney at Sterbcow Law Group, believes that a CFPB shutdown “appears increasingly likely” as the administration has begun “significant layoffs and rescinded key guidance, including provisions on RESPA marketing services agreements.”