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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 58 July 2025 J O U R N A L reallocating funds, either denying or postponing millions that consumers are justly entitled to while redirecting billions designated for victim compen- sation to the U.S. Treasury instead. A contemporary, real-world example illustrates the harm inflicted by such measures, along with the ensuing finan- cial disparity. In February of this year, multiple state attorneys general com- menced investigations concerning resti- tution owed by Prehire, LLC. Previously, the CFPB determined that Prehired, LLC, an unlicensed online sales training program, violated two federal laws: the Truth in Lending Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The company lured prospective tech sales students with deceptive promises of guaranteed minimum annual salaries of $60,000 at a 'tech company of their choice.' The cost for each student was half that amount—approximately $30,000. Consequently, the company extended loans to its students to cover their enrollment expenses. A joint letter addressed to the CFPB on March 12 inquiring about the status of payments to the victims of Prehire did not elicit a response. Subsequently, on May 6, a follow-up letter reiterated their previous concerns. Describing Prehire as "a predatory online training boot camp," the attorneys general from Colo- rado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and South Carolina— along with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation— stated in part: "Prehired trapped its students with illegal and deceptive 'income share' loans. Prehired then resorted to abusive debt collection practices—including filing hundreds of debt collection law- suits—when students could not repay those loans and the job offers Prehired promised did not materialize. Prehired specifically targeted military veterans with its advertising. Prehired was in bankruptcy and unable to issue refunds to its victims," the letter continued. "In such cases, the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund is available to compensate harmed victims. Our offices worked with the CFPB to secure an allocation from the Civil Penalty Fund, in the amount of $4,248,249. The CFPB finalized the allocation on May 30, 2024." Stripping CFPB's Victim Compensation Fund A recent party-line vote conducted by the House Financial Services Com- mittee (HFSC) sanctioned a resolution that would strip the CFPB of its capacity to reimburse defrauded consumers from its Civil Penalty Fund (CPF). Should this resolution be subsequently approved by Congress, the unallocated revenues from the fund would be redirected to the Treasury Department, rather than being retained to compensate victims. Essentially, experts reveal that bil- lions of dollars are at stake. A significant portion of that balance was derived from a $1.7 billion penalty imposed on Wells Fargo, according to a February 2025 report by the Congressional Research Service. In June 2024, the Office of Inspector General at the CFPB disclosed that the CPF had amassed $3.4 billion and maintained a balance of $1.9 billion as of September 2023. "My Republican colleagues are telling their constituents loud and clear that they "It's not really about saving taxpayer money or anything related to the budget. It's about getting rid of the Bureau." —Christine Hines, Senior Policy Director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates