During National Consumer Protection Week, the host Robin Hamilton interviews University of Michigan social work professor and consumer protection expert Terri Friedline about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), why it was created after the 2008 mortgage crisis to center consumers’ experiences, and how recent rollbacks weaken protections. Friedline explains how higher credit card interest caps can accelerate debt and harm health, how rewards programs can shift benefits to wealthier users, and why reduced oversight enables predatory payday lending with rates averaging 400% and sometimes reaching 1000%, often filling gaps where bank branches close in Black and brown communities. She also discusses discriminatory overdraft fees, dropped enforcement related to Zelle fraud, and the loss of CFPB complaint resources.