WASHINGTON–The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a special edition of its monthly complaint report, which provides a snapshot of consumer complaints submitted across the country.
For each state and the District of Columbia, the report provides statistics on complaint volume, the products and services generating the most complaints, company response rates, and a look at complaints from servicemembers and older Americans.
The report also gives a national overview and spotlights narratives submitted by consumers regarding their experience with the CFPB’s complaint process. Overall, the Bureau has received over 1,218,600 complaints as of June 1, 2017.
The newest special edition report takes a different approach with new national statistics that are also calculated for each state and the District of Columbia, according to the CFPB. Some of the national takeaways include:
- Complaint volume rose 7% between 2015 and 2016: The Bureau has continued to see a growth in the volume of complaints submitted by consumers. In 2015 the CFPB received 271,600 complaints; this figure grew to 291,400 complaints received in 2016.
- Companies provided a timely response to 97% of complaints they received from the CFPB: The CFPB considers a response to be timely if the company responds within 15 days. Since the Bureau began accepting complaints in July 2011, companies have provided timely responses 97% of the time.
- Over half of consumers submitting complaints opt to have their narrative published: In July 2015, the Bureau began publishing detailed consumer descriptions of problems they had experienced with a financial product or service. Since the CFPB began to enable consumers to share their experiences publicly, 52% of the consumers who submitted complaints directly to the Bureau have opted to share their narrative descriptions of what happened. The narratives, which are scrubbed of consumer’s personal information, can help consumers learn from problems that others experience. The narratives also serve to help encourage companies to improve the overall quality of their products and services and more vigorously compete over good customer service.
- Debt collection and mortgage complaints account for half of complaints submitted: Debt collection and mortgage-related complaints account for 50% of the roughly 1.2 million complaints the Bureau has received. Though the Bureau only began accepting debt collection complaints in July 2013, debt collection has been the most complained about product or service, with approximately 316,810 complaints to date. These complaints, which represent 27% of the overall volume, include complaints about attempts to collect on debts not owed by consumers and repeated and harassing calls from collectors. The Bureau began taking mortgage complaints in December 2011, and to date has received approximately 272,153 mortgage-related complaints. These complaints, which represent 23% of the total volume, include complaints about problems consumers experience dealing with their servicer when they are struggling to make payments.