The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) recently submitted comments on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) consumer complaint and inquiry handling process.
The Bureau has solicited comments and requests for information regarding the subjects.
In its letter to the Bureau, CBA officials referenced ways to make the process more efficient for the Bureau, consumers and financial institutions without exposing consumers to privacy concerns or misrepresenting the Bureau’s role in the complaint process.
One of the CBA’s recommendations was that the Bureau should have consumers classify their submissions as either complaints or inquiries; clear standards for complaints should be established; there should be a complaint reclassification process; and a consumer inquiry process.
“CBA’s members are dedicated to complaint resolution and customer satisfaction and believe the goal of the Bureau’s complaint data collection ought to be to improve industry performance and service quality and to provide consumers with an avenue to deal with complaints when the company is unresponsive or is not providing a satisfactory resolution,” David Pommerehn, CBA’s associate general counsel and vice president, wrote. “It should not be used to create disharmony between consumers and the financial services industry.”
He said the CBA believes the Bureau’s efforts should be to ensure every company has a strong complaint resolution process, assist in the resolution of complaints and red flag potential problems for further evaluation.
Pommerehn said the public release of complaint data on the Bureau’s Complaint Database increases privacy risks to the consumer and offers no value.