CFPB Issues Monthy Complaint Report

Today,  the CFPB issued its 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 credit reporting.  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) continued to show a decrease in complaint volume for May-July 2015 compared to the same period of 2014;
  • Consumer loan and credit reporting showed the largest increase in complaints for May-July 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;
  • When reviewing products on a month over month basis, credit reporting complaints showed the greatest month over month increase while mortgage complaints showed the greatest month over month decrease;
  • Debt collection complaints represented approximately 1/3 of the complaints submitted in July; and
  • The states showing the highest rate of increase for May-July 2015 over the same period of 2014 are Hawaii, Maine, Georgia and North Carolina, all showing an increase of at least 33%.
     
• Highlighted Product: Credit Reporting
  • This month’s report highlights credit reporting complaints;
  • The overwhelming most common credit reporting complaint in July was incorrect information on credit reports (77% of all credit reporting complaints);
  • The CFPB report indicates that these complaints frequently involved accounts in collection for which the consumer complained were not accurately reflecting the status of the collection;
  • The CFPB report also noted consumer frustratinwith access to their credit reports due to "rigorous identity authentication" requirements; and 
  • The majority of credit reporting complaints are against national consumer reporting agencies rather than the furnisher of information.