WASHINGTON–Complaints related to financial services companies rose 12% during 2018 among members of the U.S. armed services, veterans and their families, according to the CFPB’s just released “complaint snapshot.”
Once again, the number-one complaint among servicemembers, making up 38% of all complaints (12,966), was credit or consumer reporting, the CFPB said. Complaints related to credit reports is also the top complaint among all consumers, the CFPB said in its report, “Complaint Snapshot: Complaints submitted by servicemembers, veterans, and military families.”
According to the CFPB, the Snapshot report is designed to provide a national overview of servicemember complaints, along with complaint information by state. The report is required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which created the CFPB. Among the charges given the agency is to “make sure that when servicemembers encounter problems they get timely responses to their complaints so they can stay mission-focused.”
Other Findings
Other findings in the report:
- Debt collection received the second highest number of complaints among service members at 26% of complaints received; it was also ranked second by consumers. “Attempts to collect debt not owed” made up 40% (3,495) of the complaints received
- Mortgages (10% of complaints) rated third, with “trouble during payment process” cited in 45% of the complaints
- Credit cards (8% of complaints) were fourth, with “problem with a purchase shown on your statement” cited in 26%
- Checking or savings-related complaints were fifth (6%), with “managing an account” cited in 58% of the complaints
States tallying the most complaints were Texas, with 3,741; California, with 3,556; Florida, with 3,191; and Georgia, with 2,355.