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American financial transactions are not free from Washington’s watchful eye during the government shutdown. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a creation of Dodd-Frank, is still open for business.
That’s because the Bureau gets its funding from the Federal Reserve, which does not receive money through the congressional appropriations process.
“The CFPB doesn’t like to advertise it’s a part of the Fed,” John Berlau, a researcher at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation, “but it is, and it has some of the same Fed issues with lack of transparency and accountability.”
Berlau pointed out that while intelligence agents and law enforcement personnel are furloughed, CFPB analysts continue to collect mountains of financial data on millions of everyday Americans without their consent.
At a House hearing last July, the bureau’s deputy director told lawmakers his agency was monitoring the transactions of 900 million separate credit card accounts — around 80 percent of the U.S. credit card market. But many other questions about the data program remain unanswered.
“It’s too bad that the shutdown isn’t preventing the CFPB from continuing the assault on privacy, transparency and entrepreneurship,” Berlau said. “These outrages have to be furloughed.”
Concerned about the CFPB’s spying and lack of accountability to Congress or the courts, some Republican lawmakers are trying to do just that. House Republicans have indicated that they want CFPB rules changed to give Congress greater control over the bureau’s budget before they vote for a debt ceiling increase.
That demand goes along with the Republican push to delay Obamacare for one year as part of a debt ceiling compromise, a clear sign of how important many believe it is to bring the CFPB under a system of checks and balances.
“As horrible as Obamacare is, bringing accountability to the CFPB is equally important,” Berlau concluded.
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Count of complaints by company recorded so far during the US Government shutdown 
Unlike some parts of the US , the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been open during the federal government shutdown and recording a record-low number of complaints submitted by consumers against  companies,  companies,  providers, , money transfer providers, companies who provide , and other companies providing consumer loans.  

With data not available for yesterday, the first four days of the shutdown had daily totals of 37, 16, 13, and 3 complaints.  With the exceptions of September 29 with 15 complaints and September 28 with 23, it is the lowest daily total since March 16 of this year when 36 total complaints were recorded and February 23 of this year with 14. The total complaints are also down from the same dates last year, when the total complaints per day for the first four days of October 2012 were 272, 298, 288, and 225.

Of the 69 filed complaints recorded so far this month, 27 were complaints about mortgage companies, 21 were about bank accounts and 10 were about credit card companies.  40% of credit card companies complaints, 42.9% of bank account complaints and 48.1% of mortgage complaints are currently listed as still in progress.  Most of the rest have been closed with an explanation.

 leads all companies in terms of total complaints filed this month with 9. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC and
 have 7 complaints each. , , and  have 4 each. 
and  have 3 each.  , Nationstar Mortgage, , , and  have 2 complaints each. 18 financial services companies have 1 complaint each filed against them.

During the government shutdown, some CFPB staff have voiced their opinions on . Dan Munz, deputy assistant director for consumer engagement at the CFPB, tweeted, "Boy, shutdown week has really created a sudden bumper crop of amateur federal management experts."; "Also, seems like  is singlehandedly undoing whatever progress he'd made in portraying this as a Dem  shutdown."; and "Basically, there's now a strong incentive to fill legislation with minor symbolic things you can bargain away later to protect the core."

The agency has been able to stay open during the government shutdown because it is funded by the .  According to Amanda Terkel at the '''',  members of the  have put closing the CFPB on their wish list of items in negotiating for a new debt ceiling limit. Party members have previously stalled the appointment of  as the CFPB boss as a way of hindering it from engaging in oversight of financial organizations in the the US.


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