CFPB Monthly Complaint Report Confirms Increased Scrutiny on Depository Accounts

The CFPB issued its MonthlyReport last week. The report is a high level snapshot of trends in consumer complaints and provides a summary of the volume of complaints by product category, by company and by state.  The Report breaks down complaint volume by product looking at a three month average and comparing the same to the prior year.  As has been the case in prior months, the Report continues to indicate that the three products yielding the highest volume of complaints are debt collection, mortgage and credit reporting.

This month’s report highlights bank account or service complaints and re-emphasizes the increased scrutiny that banks are likely to see from their regulators concerning information furnished to consumer reporting agencies concerning deposit accounts.  The Report notes that bank account or service complaints comprise approximately 10% of the total complaints received by the CFPB.  Consistent with the Fall SupervisoryHighlights, the Report notes that:

• The most common complaint involved account management and many of the complaints both with respect to account openings and closings involved potential for credit reporting issues. Account management issues comprise about 44% of all complaint received. Specifically: 

• Consumers complained they were unable to open accounts and often uncertain as to why a company refused to open an account. 
• Consumers also complained that their inability to open accounts was often related to inaccurate credit reporting.
• Consumers also complained about companies’ decisions to close deposit accounts, noting that no reason was provided for the action.    

• Another issue highlighted by the Report involved deposit and withdrawal issues.  Consumers complained about restricted access to funds, early cut off times for same day deposits, holds placed on deposits and holds placed on checks.  Complaints involved deposits and withdrawals comprised 25% of the complaint in this category.

The significance of this month’s Complaint Report, coupled with the attention provided to credit reporting in the Fall Supervisory Highlights, is that depository banks should be on notice that their handling of adverse actions credit reporting disputes with respect to depository accounts is likely to be a point of emphasis in upcoming examinations.