WASHINGTON—Debt collection continues to be at the top of consumers’ complaint list, according to the CFPB’s latest consumer complaint snapshot.
As of Aug. 1, 2016, the CFPB said it has handled approximately 954,400 complaints nationally. For July 2016, as has been the case in other CFPB complaint snapshots, debt collection was the most-complained-about financial product or service.
Of the approximately 24,000 complaints handled in July, there were 6,546 complaints about debt collection. The second most-complained-about consumer product was credit reporting, which accounted for 5,382 complaints. The third most-complained-about financial product or service was mortgages, accounting for 3,910 complaints.
Product trends: In a year-to-year comparison examining the three-month time period of May to July, student loan complaints showed the greatest increase—64%—of any product or service, the CFPB said. The Bureau received 639 student loan complaints between May and July 2015, while it received 1,050 complaints during the same time period in 2016. The CFPB began accepting complaints about the servicing of federal student loans in February 2016.
State information: Alaska, Wyoming, and Colorado experienced the greatest year-to-year complaint volume increases from the May to July 2016 period versus the same time period 12 months before; with Alaska up 29%, Wyoming up 24%, and Colorado up 20%.
Most-complained-about companies: The three companies that received the most complaints from March through May 2016 were credit reporting companies Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.