Published: August 2020 Advocates call foul as CFPB hides consumer complaint narratives from public view. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it will continue the publication of consumer complaints, data fields and narrative descriptions through its Consumer Complaint Database but will make several enhancements to the information available.. Complaints are not necessarily representative of all consumers’ experiences with a financial product or company. Complaints are published after the company responds, confirming a commercial relationship with the consumer, or after 15 days, whichever comes first. On March 19, 2015, the CFPB issued a final policy statement to provide guidance on how the Bureau will publicly disclose unstructured complaint narrative data via the Consumer Complaint Database. The Socrata platform has been retired. This database is a collection of complaints about consumer financial products and services that we sent to companies for response. We will update you on new newsroom updates. Consumer Complaint Database, we publish information such as the subject and date of the complaint and the company’s response. Director(Richard(Cordray(((Bureau(of(Consumer(Financial(Protection((1700(G(Street(N.W.(Washington,(D.C.(20552! One option is to provide more information about a company’s complaint handling such as highlighting the quality of responses to consumers. Subscribe to our email newsletter. Re-identification generally occurs when • Narratives put issues in context, allowing the public to assess the validity of a complaint and draw their own conclusions. or have questions about the content, Check out our search tool and the new API service to learn more about consumer complaints. In June 2012, the CFPB launched its Consumer Complaint Database, which is the nation’s largest public collection of consumer financial complaints. Complaints are not necessarily representative of all consumers’ experiences with a financial product or company. Learn more. The CFPB proposed a new policy Wednesday that would expand the information it publicly discloses on its complaint database to include consumer narratives. The policy is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_disclosure-of-consumer-complaint-narrative-data.pdf. The CFPB consumer complaint narrative policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards the Bureau has put in place to publish narratives in the database. “The surge in complaints is a signal … Complaints are listed in the database only after the company responds to the complaint or after it has had the complaint for 15 days, whichever comes first. Source: site On March 1, 2021, the United States Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) released a study – “Consumers In Peril” – that reviewed the public complaint database of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and found consumer complaints about financial grievances spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020. In its press release, the CFPB stated that the database now includes “for the first time over 7,700 consumer accounts of problems they are facing with financial companies concerning mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, debt collection, and more.” Yesterday, in advance of a field hearing being held today on consumer complaints, the CFPB released a proposal to expand the amount of information that will be included in the Consumer Complaint Database to include certain consumer complaint narratives, along with any response to the complaint submitted by the identified financial institution. It currently accepts complaints on many consumer financial products, including: credit cards; mortgages; bank accounts; private student loans; vehicle and other consumer loans; credit reporting; money transfers; debt collection; and payday loans. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the CFPB, established the handling of consumer complaints as an integral part of the CFPB’s work. The expansion, proposed in July 2014, went live on June 25 and allows consumers to opt-in to publicly share the narrative portion of a complaint; previously, it was kept private. The CFPB is proposing to expand the complaint data that it publicly discloses in its Consumer Complaint Database to include consumer complaint narratives. When consumers submit a complaint to the Bureau, they fill in information such as who they are, who the complaint is against, and when it occurred. Today’s policy is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_disclosure-of-consumer-complaint-narrative-data.pdf. AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database is designed to allow users to explore the information, spotlight particular practices and problems, and gain valuable insights. grateful for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) September 2019 decision to maintain public access to the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint database and to continue to publish the complaint narratives—the core of the complaint. On March 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) adopted a proposal to publicly disclose consumer complaint narratives in its Consumer Complaint Database. Through the complaint handling process, the Bureau has helped consumers secure hundreds of thousands of responses from companies as well as millions of dollars in monetary relief. Examples of 2015 complaints with narratives in the database: Consumer Action Report: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, August 2016 4 How can narratives be valuable? The CFPB’s final Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards the Bureau is putting in place to publish narratives in the database. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov. The Request for Information is available at: In July 2014, the CFPB proposed a policy that would allow consumers to publicly share their stories when they submit complaints to the Bureau. Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy. – Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it will continue the publication of consumer complaints, data fields and narrative descriptions through the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database while making several enhancements to the information available to users of the database. The narratives provide context to complaints, are easily searchable, and help spotlight specific trends. The CFPB is also publishing a Request for Information seeking public input on ways to highlight positive consumer experiences, such as by receiving consumer compliments. The CFPB recently updated its Application Programming Interface (API) service to ensure seamless data availability for users and real-time consistency with the Consumer Complaint Database. The Final Policy allows consumers who file complaints with the CFPB to “opt-in” to have the actual narrative of the complaint disclosed in the CFPB’s consumer complaint database, with private information scrubbed out of the narrative. The policy includes important safeguards for removing a consumer’s personal information and ensuring the informed consent of any consumer who participates. An official website of the United States government, Explore guides to help you plan for big financial goals, https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_disclosure-of-consumer-complaint-narrative-data.pdf, https://www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201505_cfpb_request-for-information-regarding-the-consumer-complaint-database-data-normalization.pdf, Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION [Docket No. or have questions about the content, NAFCU letter to CFPB on Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Narrative Database. ! Specifically, the Bureau is looking for ideas to enable the public to more easily understand information in the database and make comparisons of the complaints by normalizing, or adding additional context to, the complaint data. The purposes of the Consumer Complaint Database include providing consumers with timely and understandable information Today’s policy will serve to empower consumers by helping them make informed decisions and helping track trends in the consumer financial market.”. Today’s RFI seeks input on these options and welcomes other ideas. July 2015: Mortgages and Mortgage Complaints reviewed complaints about mortgages and heralded the CFPB's recent (June 2015) inclusion, on a voluntary basis, of consumer narratives (stories) in the database going forward. On March 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) adopted a proposal to publicly disclose consumer complaint narratives in its Consumer Complaint Database. This policy builds on the safeguards the CFPB’s database already has in place. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the CFPB, established the handling of consumer complaints as an integral part of the CFPB’s work. Today, the Bureau is also issuing a Notice and Request for Information (RFI) seeking input from the public on the potential collection and sharing of information about consumers’ positive interactions with financial service providers. please contact the press office. When consumers submit a complaint to the CFPB, they now have the option to share their account of what happened in the CFPB’s public-facing Consumer Complaint Database. The narratives may encourage companies to improve the overall quality of their products and services, and more vigorously compete over good customer service. As of June 1, 2015 , the Bureau has handled more than 627,000 complaints, with mortgages and debt collection being the most frequent topics. However, we are compelled to urge you to reconsider your decision to bury the narratives, Last month, the CFPB announced that it was adopting its controversial proposal to publicly disclose consumer complaint narratives in its consumer complaint database, and would give companies, within the company web portal, an opportunity to recommend which option, if any, from a “set list of structured company response options” it wanted to include as a public-facing response to a complaint. Consumers must opt-in to share their narrative. Learn more. In March 2015, the Bureau finalized a policy to empower consumers to publicly share their stories when they submit complaints to the Bureau. The CFPB is also publishing a Request for Information today seeking input on whether there are ways to enable the public to more easily understand and make comparisons of the complaint information. Publishing these consumer stories today is a historic milestone that we believe will lead to better outcomes for everyone.”. CFPB Allows Consumers to Publish Complaint Narratives in CFPB’s Public Database By Faye Ricci on March 20, 2015 Posted in CFPB, Compliance Resources, Regulatory Developments Dodd-Frank empowered CFPB to treat consumer complaints as an integral part of CFPB’s mission. Complaints are published after the company responds, confirming a commercial relationship with the consumer, or after 15 days, whichever comes first. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov. The CFPB’s final Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards the Bureau is putting in place to publish narratives in the database. please contact the press office. Starting today, consumer narratives that have been scrubbed of personal information will be added to the complaint database on a daily basis. The Bureau forwards the complaint to the company for response, gives the consumer a tracking number, and keeps the consumer updated on its status. Currently, the CFPB’s Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Policy Statement provides that the complaint data fields the CFPB discloses in the database are limited to non-narrative fields such as the name of the … Since the Bureau launched this feature, more than half of consumers submitting complaints to the CFPB website have “opted in” to share their accounts of what happened. If you want to republish the article As of March 1, 2015 , the Bureau has handled 558,800 complaints, with mortgages and debt collection being the most frequent topics. An official website of the United States government, Explore guides to help you plan for big financial goals, https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_disclosure-of-consumer-complaint-narrative-data.pdf, https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_request-for-information-regarding-the-consumer-complaint-database.pdf, Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. Under the CFPB policy, companies also have 180 days to select an optional public-facing response to be included in the public database. The second option is to collect and provide consumer compliments – independent of the complaint process. ACTION: Proposed policy statement; extension of comment period. The CFPB is proposing to expand the complaint data that it publicly discloses in its Consumer Complaint Database to include consumer complaint narratives. As of today, consumer narratives are publicly available on the CFPB’s consumer complaint database. The policy includes important safeguards for removing a consumer’s personal information and ensuring the informed consent of any consumer who participates. On March 19, 2015, the CFPB issued a final policy statement to provide guidance on how the Bureau will publicly disclose unstructured complaint narrative data via the Consumer Complaint Database. Currently, the CFPB’s Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Policy Statement provides that the complaint data fields the CFPB discloses in the database are limited to non-narrative fields such as the name of the company that is the subject of the complaint, the date the complaint was submitted to the CFPB … Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor Monitoring the financial services industry to help companies navigate through regulatory compliance, enforcement, and litigation issues Home » CFPB Adds Narrative to Complaint Database The CFPB will disclose the consumer narrative when the company provides its public-facing response, or after the company has had the complaint for 60 calendar days, whichever comes first. SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) currently discloses certain The CFPB is making a good public consumer complaint database better. The Request for Information is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_request-for-information-regarding-the-consumer-complaint-database.pdf, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. In fact, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a nonpartisan consumer-advocacy group, analyzed complaints made through the CFPB and found that more than 223,000 grievances resulted in relief for consumers. Consumer complaint narrative: Consumer complaint narrative is the consumer-submitted description of "what happened" from the complaint. “Every complaint tells us what people are facing in the financial marketplace. We will update you on new newsroom updates. It currently accepts complaints on many consumer financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts, private student loans, vehicle and other consumer loans, credit reporting, money transfers, debt collection, and payday loans. data associated with consumer complaints via the Consumer Complaint Database to include narratives for which opt-in consumer consent is obtained and a robust personal information scrubbing standard and methodology has been applied. The CFPB has published a “Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy” which details the specific procedures and safeguards that the agency has put into place to publish narratives in the database. If you want to republish the article Consumers submitting complaints directly to the CFPB have the option to publish their description of what happened in the Consumer Complaint Database. “The Bureau’s work improves as we hear directly from consumers,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. Complaints can take up to 15 days from the day that they are filed to appear in the dataset, and narratives can take up to 60 days to appear. Excerpt from consumer and civil rights groups' letter to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger requesting that she reinstate consumer complaint database views that make it easy to find consumer story narratives. CFPB-2014-0016] Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Narrative Data . The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently launched public access to its Consumer Complaint Database (Database), which is the nation’s largest public collection of consumer financial complaints. CFPB Consumer Complaints. We will not publish the narrative unless the consumer consents, and consumers can opt-out at any time. CFPB Adds Narratives to Complaint Database Both consumers and the entities about which they complain will post their stories online. We do not share your personal information with the public. The CFPB’s policy recognizes the importance of protecting consumers’ private information, ensuring the informed consent of any consumer who participates, and providing companies with an opportunity to respond. Consumer narratives provide a first-hand account of the consumer’s experience, and adding the option to share them will greatly enhance the utility of the database. Consumer Action joined nearly three dozen consumer, civil rights, community, housing, and privacy groups in urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reconsider its decision to bury the narratives of consumer complaints, making it much harder for non-experts to find this essential material in its consumer complaint database. “Narratives humanize the problems consumers face in the marketplace. The CFPB began accepting complaints as soon as it opened its doors nearly four years ago in July 2011. “Consumer narratives shed light on the full consumer perspective behind a complaint,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday proposed expanding its consumer complaint database to include detailed narratives from aggrieved consumers, a … Learn more. Broadly speaking, the Bureau sees two options for sharing positive consumer feedback about companies. Consumers Can Now Opt-In to Share Complaint Narratives in CFPB’s Public Database. Today, the Bureau is also issuing a Request for Information seeking public input on ways to make the data more useful to the public. Specifically, users can: The CFPB consumer complaint narrative policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards the Bureau has put in place to publish narratives in the database. The narratives will provide context to complaints, spotlight specific trends, and help consumers make informed decisions. Consumer narratives provide a firsthand account of the consumer’s experience. When consumers submit a complaint to the Bureau, they fill in information such as who they are, who the complaint is … The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has gone ahead with its inclusion of a consumer narrative element in its complaint database. Data was downloaded in CSV … Complaints are listed in the database after the company responds to the complaint or after it has had the complaint for 15 days, whichever comes first. With your consent we may publish your “What Happened” complaint narrative, after we take steps intended to remove personal information. On March 19, the CFPB announced the publication of its Final Policy Statement on disclosure of complaint narratives. They are also given a text box to describe what happened and can attach documents to the complaint. Today, the Bureau is finalizing its consumer narrative policy after receiving and considering comments from consumer groups, trade associations, companies, and individuals. To de-identify data is to remove personal information from a dataset, thereby obscuring individual identities. CFPB!Consumer!Complaint!Narrative!Comments! WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) goes live with an enhanced public-facing consumer complaint database, which includes for the first time over 7,700 consumer accounts of problems they are facing with financial companies concerning mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, debt collection, and more. The expansion, proposed in July 2014, went live on June 25 and allows consumers to opt-in to publicly share the narrative portion of a complaint… WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is finalizing a policy to empower consumers to voice publicly their complaints about consumer financial products and services. Consumer Complaint Database. The letter and attachment including screenshots is downloadable as a … Consumers can submit a complaint to the bureau and identify who they are, the complaint they have and when it occurred. “The narratives will provide context to complaints, spotlight specific trends, and help consumers make informed decisions. Consumer Complaint Database. The policy establishes a number of important safeguards for a clear, fair, and transparent process, including: Today’s policy builds on the safeguards the CFPB’s database already has in place. These company responses are included in the database for the first time today. CFPB Consumer Complaints. The CFPB’s final Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards the Bureau is putting in place to publish narratives in the database. When consumers submit a complaint to the Bureau, they fill in information such as who they are, who the complaint is against, and when it occurred. narratives is the potential harm associated with the possible re-identification of actual consumers within the Consumer Complaint Database. In order for companies to learn about this new system, the Bureau will not publish any consented-to narrative for at least 90 days after the policy’s publication in the Federal Register. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has gone ahead with its inclusion of a consumer narrative element in its complaint database.. In June 2012, the CFPB launched its Consumer Complaint Database, which is the nation’s largest public collection of consumer financial complaints. Going forward, the CFPB consumer narratives that have been scrubbed of personal information will be added to the complaint database on a daily basis. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201505_cfpb_request-for-information-regarding-the-consumer-complaint-database-data-normalization.pdf. Since the bureau launched the feature, more than half of submitters … Consumers submitting complaints directly to the CFPB have the option to publish their description of what happened in the Consumer Complaint Database. In 2015, the CFPB added optional consumer narratives, or stories, to its public consumer complaint database, giving other consumers, researchers and even other firms a new way to help study complaint patterns. Over Half of Consumers Filing Complaints Online Opt In to Share Their Experiences Via the CFPB’s Public Complaint Database. More than half of consumers submitting complaints since narratives were added in March have opted to share their narratives. It includes basic, anonymous, individual-level information about the complaints received, including the date of submission, the consumer’s zip code, the relevant company, the product type, the issue the consumer is complaining about, and how the company handled the complaint. According to the CFPB, the Database is a collection of over 424,000 complaints, sent to nearly 3,000 companies for response and is updated with additional complaints nightly. The CFPB has adopted its controversial proposal to publicly disclose consumer complaint narratives in its Consumer Complaint Database. Starting today, when consumers submit a complaint to the CFPB, they will now have the option to check a box and opt-in to sharing their narrative. Subscribe to our email newsletter. The CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database, which contains nearly 2 million complaints about problems with financial products, gives consumers an option to publish the full story behind their complaint. As of today, consumer narratives are publicly available on the CFPB’s consumer complaint database. The CFPB began accepting complaints as soon as it opened its doors more than three years ago in July 2011. WASHINGTON, DC (August 28, 2015) — RE: Response to Request for Information Regarding the Consumer Complaint The narratives can also help consumers to make more informed decisions, as well as encourage companies to improve the overall quality of their products and services and more vigorously compete over good customer service. The CFPB will disclose the consumer narrative when the company provides its public-facing response, or after the company has had the complaint for 60 calendar days, whichever comes first. The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database offers a tool to both analyze or export complaint data. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today published the first 7,700 consumer narratives that consumers had opted to have accompany their complaints in the CFPB’s public database. Things to know before you use the database Complaints are published after the company responds, confirming a commercial relationship with the consumer, or after 15 days, whichever comes first. It includes basic, anonymous, individual-level information about the complaints received, including the date of submission, the consumer’s zip code, the relevant company, the product type, the issue the consumer is complaining about, and how the company handled the complaint. In its press release , the CFPB stated that the database now includes “for the first time over 7,700 consumer accounts of problems they are facing with financial companies concerning mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, debt collection, and more.” Its plans for disclosing the narratives are set forth in a final policy statement. By Nicholas Ballasy | July 16, 2014 at 10:46 AM As soon as the CFPB was established in July 2011, they began accepting complaints from consumers, and in June 2012, the CFPB launched the Consumer Complaint Database. Learn more “Consumer narratives provide a first-hand account of the consumer’s experience, and adding the option to share them will greatly enhance the utility of the database,” the CFPB said.