Debt collection, credit reporting and mortgages were the top three financial products and services consumers complained about most last year, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) annual Consumer Response Annual Report.
The annual report is an overview of the 291,400 consumer complaints the bureau received in 2016 –
a seven percent increase over the previous year. Debt collection, credit reporting and mortgages complaints made up 67 percent of all complaints in 2016.
When the CFPB receives a complaint from a consumer, the complaint is sent to the company in an effort to resolve the issue for the consumer. The annual report revealed that companies respond to these complaints in a timely manner. Specifically, 97 percent of complaints sent to financial companies receive timely responses.
CFPB publishes basic information about complaints in its public Consumer Complaint Database so that consumers can see and learn from other people’s experiences. Complaints are only published after the company responds or after the company has had the complaint for 15 calendar days, whichever comes first.
Since the CFPB launched in 2011 the bureau has handled approximately 1,136,000 complaints. Every month, the CFPB handles more than 20,000 complaints through its website, by telephone or through mail, fax, and referral. The complaints help the bureau better understand the problems consumers experience in the financial marketplace.