The National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) is reaffirming its position consumer financial services complaints should not be made public.
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger recently composed correspondence in which he agreed with Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s position the bureau is not statutorily required to publish the views.
“Publication of unverified consumer narratives can have long-lasting effects on a credit union’s reputation, resulting in fewer members, market share, and potentially resulting in more time-consuming examinations,” Berger wrote.
Berger reemphasized that the bureau should remove its consumer complaint database from public view.
The NAFCU chief maintains since the bureau uses information submitted to the database to inform its examination and supervision of financial institutions, complaint data should be treated as non-public information and be limited to internal use, given its significant influence over the Bureau’s supervisory functions.
In June, NAFCU addressed the issue with bureau personnel and included it as one of the five things the bureau can do now to provide immediate and much-needed regulatory relief to the credit union industry.
NAFCU is urging the bureau to avoid publication of complaint information that cannot be fully verified to reduce the risk of reputational harm, with Mulvaney indicating changes will likely be made to the database to keep it consistent with the law.