The CFPB was born out of the Dodd-Frank Act with the purpose of protecting the average American from the big bad wolf – the wolf of Wall Street, that is – and the banks that have been blamed for causing the Great Recession.

The reality, however, according to groups that solely support credit unions, is that the CFPB is hurting the small institutions that have nothing to do with causing 2008′s economic crash.

The bureau was the brainchild of then-Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, who is now a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Her idea was that the CFPB would fight for the American people and keep lenders in check. In the beginning, the CFPB was hailed by some as a much-needed force in the financial industry. A notable exception to that was NAFCU, which supported consumer protections for Wall Street and payday lenders, but felt credit unions did not need another regulator. CUNA, at the time, supported the CFPB but wanted credit unions to have their own regulator. What resulted was Section 1022 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which authorizes the CFPB to provide exemptions to credit unions from the requirements of statutes.