Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the next significant step in its ongoing work to advance President Trump’s fight against the controversial practice of "debanking"—the freezing, closing, or restricting of financial accounts for businesses and individuals on the basis of their constitutionally protected rights. This includes support for President Trump, the MAGA movement, pro-life causes, and entire industries traditionally disfavored by political movements on the Left. Under this new initiative, the CFPB will aggressively address consumer harm caused by the nation’s largest banking institutions, following up directly on a comprehensive report regarding debanking practices released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The sweeping regulatory move follows the publication of the OCC report, titled “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans.” That federal review uncovered that the nine largest national banks operating under the supervision of the OCC—specifically JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank—maintained internal policies or engaged in operational practices that routinely denied or restricted financial access to customers based on their political or religious beliefs, or because of a customer’s otherwise lawful business activities.

According to the OCC report, investigators uncovered explicit documentation, including internal corporate emails and memos, revealing biased and discriminatory decision-making processes within these financial institutions. Furthermore, the report demonstrated that entire legal and commercial sectors were victims of debanking, most notably businesses operating within the firearms, oil and gas, and tobacco industries, whose lawful operations had drawn disfavor from corporate compliance departments and executive leadership.

Acting CFPB Director Mark Paoletta did not mince words regarding the findings of the federal reviews. "It is appalling that these banks targeted American consumers for their political, social, or religious beliefs that did not align with the Biden Administration or its leftist allies," Paoletta said. "Many of those targeted were supporters of President Trump. These thuggish tactics, which were also a defining feature of the Biden-Chopra CFPB, have no place in America."

Paoletta went on to express gratitude toward federal partners for bringing the issue to light. "We thank the Department of the Treasury and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for conducting its review to shed light on these shameful practices. The CFPB will fully investigate whether the institutions featured in OCC’s report and others have complied with federal consumer financial laws and take appropriate action."

Under federal regulatory frameworks, the CFPB holds primary supervisory and enforcement authority for depository institutions with over $10 billion in assets, which includes all nine of the major national banks named in the OCC report. In addition to these massive financial institutions, the bureau also oversees certain nonbank financial financial entities to assess their compliance with federal consumer financial protection laws.

The CFPB’s newly announced enforcement and investigative undertaking forms a core component of the agency’s broader effort to implement Executive Order 14331, titled “Guaranteeing Fair Access to Banking for All Americans,” and to vigorously remedy the rising phenomenon of debanking across the United States. To accomplish this, the CFPB actively evaluates financial institutions for compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Special attention is being paid to the strict adverse action notice requirements mandated under these statutes, as well as statutory prohibitions against Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP). When these evaluations reveal potential violations, the bureau initiates formal investigations where warranted.

Prior to today’s announcement, the CFPB undertook a rigorous internal review of its own Examination Manual, regulatory guidance, and other administrative materials utilized to regulate and examine financial institutions under its jurisdiction. This internal overhaul was designed to ensure that federal supervisory documents do not contain vague or subjective reputation risk concepts that could inadvertently encourage or result in unlawful debanking by commercial lenders. In parallel with these policy reviews, the agency has been systematically combing through consumer complaints, alongside supervisory and enforcement data, searching for concrete evidence of potential unlawful debanking, and is actively pursuing independent investigations based on those data streams.

As part of its ongoing public outreach and enforcement support, the CFPB recently updated its official website and consumer complaint portal. The updates are designed to raise public awareness about the realities of debanking and to provide clear avenues for affected citizens and businesses to come forward. The bureau continues to actively encourage consumers and commercial entities to submit formal complaints if they believe they have been unjustly denied financial services, debanked, or discriminated against on political, religious, or ideological grounds.