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CFPB: what it means

The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is the federal agency that implements and enforces federal consumer financial law. It supervises banks, lenders and large nonbank companies, such as credit reporting agencies and debt collectors.

In Spanish it is

CFPB

Also written as: CFPB · Consumer Bureau

Two women and a girl laugh together at the bus stop.

Verified on October 17, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

It takes consumer complaints and sends them to companies for a response. It also enforces laws that outlaw discrimination in consumer finance, provides financial education materials and works to make credit card, mortgage and other loan disclosures clearer.

An example

Gabriel's loan servicer will not answer him, so he files a complaint on the CFPB's website. The CFPB sends the complaint to the company for a response.

You will see it in…

The CFPB's complaint website
Ask CFPB answers
The CFPB's homebuying guides and tools

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. CFPB · The CFPB (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. USAGov · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026