The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many US consumers to the brink of financial disaster. The government agency built to protect them may let them topple over the edge.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formed in response to the last financial crisis, is under fire from consumer advocates, lawmakers, researchers and former employees who say the Bureau is bending the rules for financial firms during the pandemic in ways that put consumers at greater risk and threaten to prolong and deepen Covid’s economic impact.