ARLINGTON, Va.—NAFCU is urging the CFPB to suspend plans to implement its Consumer Response Company Response Survey until the impact of the study is evaluated.
“The CFPB’s decision to spotlight unverified criticism at the complaint close-out stage only serves to muddy the success of existing complaint resolution programs, which the proposal completely disregards,” wrote NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Andrew Morris in a letter to the Bureau on the agency’s Consumer Response Company Response Survey. “While NAFCU and our members support the CFPB’s efforts to promote better customer service, the Company Response Survey (the ‘Survey’) would neither enhance nor facilitate that process.”
Morris stated that NAFCU is also concerned that the CFPB has failed to address legitimate criticism of the Survey as it moves forward with plans for implementation next year.
“For example, the expansive wording of certain Survey questions might lead consumers to present new grievances that would otherwise form the basis of a separate complaint,” wrote Morris. “Despite the possibility that consumers may raise new complaints through the Survey, the CFPB has not proposed any plan for handling misdirection of complaint information.”
“NAFCU asks that the CFPB suspend its plans to implement the Survey until it has studied its potential impact and undertaken a more complete cost benefit analysis utilizing the feedback it has received,” continued Morris. “NAFCU suggests that such a study take into consideration the efficacy of existing customer service programs operated by financial institutions, what reputational costs might result from the aggregation of unverified, post-complaint criticism, and how the CFPB intends to mitigate potential confusion resulting from the overly broad nature of the Survey questions.”