CFPB Issues Monthly Complaint Report

Last week, the CFPB issued its first monthly report of consumer complaints.  The report is a high level snapshot of trends in consumer complaints. The Report provides a summary of the volume of complaints by product category, by company and by state.  Additionally, it highlights a product type and a geographic area.  This month’s report highlights debt collection.  Here are the highlights:

• Complaint Volume by Product
  • The Report breaks down complaint volume by product looking at a three month average and comparing the same to 2014. 
  • Surprisingly, debt collection (while still having the largest volume of complaints) showed a decrease in complaint volume for April-June 2015 compared to the same period of 2014;
  • Consumer loan and credit reporting showed the largest increase in complaints for April-June 2015 when compared to April-June 2014;
  • Not surprisingly, the three products which yielded the highest volume of complaints for April-June 2015 were debt collection, mortgage and credit reporting.
     
• Highlighted Product: Debt collection Complaints            
  • This month’s report highlights debt collection complaints
  • The most common debt complaints were continued attempts to collect a debt not owed and communication tactics.
  • Many of the complaints concerning continued attempt to collect suggested that the balance was not correctly calculated
  • Many of the complaints suggested the consumer only found out about the debt collection through reviewing their credit report.