In early February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent federal agency created as a watchdog in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, shuttered its Washington, D.C. offices and laid off about 200 probationary and term employees. The remaining workers were told to stay home and that they'd need clearance from the bureau's chief legal officer before doing any CFPB business.

"Otherwise, employees should stand down from performing any work task," CFPB acting director Russell Vought wrote in a staff email.

The Trump administration, aided by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, intended to wind down the agency, according to employee accounts. In a collection of statements released last week, employees said CFPB leadership shared plans to fire nearly all of the agency's 1,700 employees and operate with a remaining staff of five — the minimum as required by law.

For now, the agency's actions are on hold. A judge suspended Vought's ability to fire further employees and in a Monday hearing expressed skepticism about the government's approach.

The aim of the pause is "to make sure [the CFPB] hasn't been choked out of existence before I get to rule," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said. Another evidentiary hearing is scheduled for March 10.

The changes at CFPB are part of the new administration's promise to increase efficiency and cut costs in government operations. The Trump administration said in court filings that its plans include "right sizing" the CFPB instead of eliminating it completely.

Consumer advocates warn that the effort to drastically reduce the size and scope of the CFPB could mean less protection from potential harm from the financial services industry.

"If you have a mortgage or a bank account or a credit card — and virtually everybody's got a credit report — the lack of a watchdog to make sure that you are protected and safe in your financial activities is going to have devastating effects," says Lauren Saunders, associate director at the National Consumer Law Center. "And it may seem abstract, but it will be very concrete for people."

What the CFPB does

The CFPB was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. The agency regulates financial products and services, such as credit cards, bank accounts, online payments and credit reporting.

It brings lawsuits and levies fines against financial institutions operating outside of current laws and creates new rules for financial firms and institutions, such as regulations limiting overdraft fees or excluding medical debt from credit reporting.

The bureau maintains a public-facing complaint database for members of the public to report evidence of malfeasance on the part of financial institutions.

How CFPB changes could affect you: 'You're going to have to be much more vigilant'

A less active or functional CFPB could mean you may have to do more to protect yourself, according to Saunders.

"You're going to have to be much more vigilant in checking your credit report and making sure there aren't mistakes on it, checking your bank account statement, making sure they're not charging you fees that they shouldn't charge you, or that there aren't unauthorized charges that you didn't make," Saunders says.

The CFPB moved last year to limit credit card late fees to $8 — well under the average of $30, according to WalletHub. Banking groups sued, and the rule is on hold. A rule limiting overdraft fees faces the same waiting game following an industry lawsuit.

Right now the CFPB's complaint website, where consumers can flag instances of malfeasance from financial firms, is still up, though employee testimony indicates that it may not be currently operational.

Without it, consumers will have to get as loud as they can on their own in the hopes that their issues are heard. They are "going to have to talk to the media and use social media and complain to state attorneys general and do what they can if they spot problems and they can't get attention from a company," Saunders says.

There will be more onus on you to be savvier about your dealings with financial institutions, agrees Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate — and that ask is potentially unfair.

"Consumers don't take the time to read the fine print. On television, it can be 400 words to be consumed in three seconds. That's why we have regulators, to do the work that consumers can't do themselves," he says.

No one expects financial institutions to rush to do harm to their customers on purpose. Still, "the question is if the if the scale has been substantially tipped in favor of business, including potentially bad actors," he says. "We need to have a balance between the interests of shareholders, stakeholders and consumers. The worry right now is that consumers have had some protections moved away from them."

What could happen going forward

The current administration may not be looking to cease all functions at the CFPB, says Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank.

Michel points out that the administration is moving forward to install a full-time director at the agency — a "weird" move if the plan is to have him oversee a staff of five, he says.

"I think that the bureau will be back up and running in 'normal capacity' before too long," Michel says, even if the new administration aims to reduce the scope of the CFPB's oversight. He imagines that a streamlined version of the agency would stick to more straightforward cases of fraud, with less latitude to make rules for private businesses.

Even if the agency is shuttered, the government still has the means of pursuing wrongdoing at financial firms, Michel points out. "Fraud is illegal. It was illegal before we created the CFPB, and it's still illegal," he says, noting that such cases could be prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

Still, with moves to curtail if not shutter the CFPB, the Trump administration signals a reluctance to rein in potentially harmful or predatory behavior on the part of big banks, says Hamrick.

"I think it's reasonable to expect that many firms will believe that they are operating under less scrutiny and have a freer hand to potentially push the envelope on immoral or illegal behavior," he says.

In the meantime, big changes at the CFPB are already evident. Last week, the agency dropped at least four lawsuits against financial firms, including an action against Capital One for allegedly misleading its customers about savings account interest rates.

The agency was scheduled to deliver payments to consumers as part of previous legal actions, including a $100 million pot of money intended to for student loan borrowers who worked with loan servicer Navient. Those disbursements are currently on hold.

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