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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sent its annual consumer response report to Congress today, highlighting the more than 540,000 complaints it received in 2020.
In a news release, the CFPB noted that the number represented a 54 percent increase compared with complaints registered with the consumer protection agency in 2019. The agency said that the spike is likely due to the impacts of COVID-19 on consumers.
“The pandemic has been among the most disruptive long-term events we will see in our lifetimes,” said CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio of the annual report. “Not surprisingly, the shockwaves it sent across the planet were felt deeply in the consumer financial marketplace. Consumer complaints provide the CFPB with an important real-time window into where consumers encounter problems in the marketplace.”
The CFPB is a federal agency tasked with consumer financial protection. The agency was started by the Obama administration in the aftermath of the Great Recession to keep financial institutions in-check, including credit card companies, student loan companies, banks and credit unions, and payday lenders.
The Biden Administration may revive the agency, by fast-tracking nominations to key agencies relating to consumer protections and Wall Street regulations, including the CFPB.
In its report to Congress, the CFPB notes that the bulk of consumer complaints, 58 percent, concerned credit and consumer reporting, followed by debt collection, credit card, checking and savings, and mortgage complaints.
Unsurprisingly, the agency registered a spike in complaints that included the coronavirus-related terms in April of 2020 – as many as 3,000 a month, according to the report.
“In March 2020, state and local governments implemented stay-at-home orders, businesses closed, and millions of Americans were suddenly out of work,” stated Uejio in his opening message in the report. “They needed help navigating their new financial reality and turned to the CFPB. This is reflected in 2020’s complaint volume.”
Florida holds the top position for residents who submit complaints to CFPB, says the agency, at 309 complaints submitted per 100,000 people.
Service members and their families also submitted complaints to the CFPB, according to the report – more than 40,000 in 2020.
The report also detailed trends in consumer complaints and responses by financial institutions. At the top of the list were complaints by consumers about inaccurate information provided on their credit reports, most of which are provided by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Troublingly, it appears from the CFPB report that these companies have trended toward less complete responses to consumer complaints.
“[T]his year,” says the agency’s news release, “the CFPB observed that the NCRAs stopped providing complete and accurate responses in many of these complaints.” The news release went on to note that it will issue another report on consumer complaints about the credit reporting bureaus and their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Top Class Actions monitors activity by the CFPB and other consumer protection agencies to help keep readers informed.
Have you registered a complaint about a financial institution to the CFPB? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
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7 thoughts onCFPB Annual Report: Consumer Complaints Spike in 2020
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Complaint against credit acceptance corp. For illegally entering my credit report with out my permission..then added me into hard inquires.. I filed 6 complaints. Credit acceptance was doing the own investigations ..
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