WASHINGTON—In which U.S. counties are American consumers filing the most complaints? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a tally.
In 2019 and 2020, the CFPB reported it received more complaints on a per-capita basis from consumers living in predominantly minority counties than from consumers in predominantly white, non-Hispanic counties. Consumers in counties with the highest percentage of minority population submitted complaints at over four times the rate compared to counties with the lowest percentage of minority population, the Bureau said.
“Consumer complaints support and inform the CFPB’s work, and provide key insight into emerging trends in the financial marketplace,” said CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio. “Today’s report shows that while all people across the nation face financial hardships, a significantly higher rate of complaints come from ethnically diverse communities. The data raise concerns that deserve our further study and, as such, we’ll keep a spotlight on patterns or any abuses we see.”
The bulletin provides county-level visualization of trends the CFPB identifies in per-capita submission of complaints. The bulletin also analyzes complaints at the county level and describes the CFPB’s ongoing work to better understand the communities that submit complaints and how their problems vary.
Other Key Findings
According to the CFPB, other key findings in the bulletin include:
- From 2019 to 2020, consumer complaints increased across all demographic groups. Complaints increased at a greater rate in predominantly minority counties compared to predominantly white, non-Hispanic counties
- Consumers living in predominantly minority counties submitted more complaints on a per capita basis in nearly every one of the 11 product categories about which the Bureau accepts complaints
- Credit or consumer reporting appears to cause significantly more issues for consumers in predominantly minority counties
Expanded Data Collection
The CFPB added that it will soon expand demographic collection to include household size and income. As part of this work, the CFPB said it will enhance its complaint form to give consumers the option to provide household size and household income when submitting a complaint.
The CFPB added it will also begin exploring what additional information it may need to help better understand the experiences of diverse communities that submit complaints.