Dismantling watchdog leaves consumers in a limbo

WASHINGTON — The Donald Trump administration's rapid dismantling of the US consumer protection watchdog will have broad implications for consumers with credit cards, mortgages and bank accounts, leaving people with little recourse if they are unfairly treated by financial institutions, experts say.

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, was defanged over the weekend by Trump administration appointees after Russell Vought, the agency's acting chief, ordered the staff to halt work and temporarily locked the doors to its headquarters.

As a result, the job of policing a wide range of financial firms for compliance with several consumer protection laws has functionally disappeared — one that has been a mainstay since the agency was created by the US Congress in 2010 in response to the 2008 financial crisis.