The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced it will continue to keep complaints public. As part of this decision the CFPB has announced a number of enhancements to the database such as:
- More prominently display disclosures making it clear that the Consumer Complaint Database is not a statistical sample of consumers’ experiences in the marketplace;
- Highlighting the availability of answers to common financial questions for consumers to help inform them before they submit a complaint; and
- Highlighting consumers ability to contact the financial company directly to get answers to their specific questions.
This is a massive win for consumers, financial institutions were pushing hard to make complaints not public. The public database is useful for consumers (you can see common complaints that other consumers might have before signing up for a product or service) and is also used to hold these institutions to account by media outlets (for example I’ve been contacted by mainstream media outlets before asking about certain particularly common complaints usually surrounding bonuses not being paid out).
