Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Warns Banks Not To Manipulate Online Reviews

CFPB Bank Online Review Manipulation Compliance Bulletin Overview: 

• Who: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a compliance bulletin directed at banks and financial service firms. 
• Why: The CFPB issued the bulletin to warn banks and financial service firms not to attempt to manipulate online reviews written about them.
• Where: The bulletin was issued to banks and financial service firms nationwide.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a compliance bulletin warning banks and financial service firms not to manipulate online reviews in order to make themselves look better.

The CFPB says it issued the bulletin as a “reminder” of its requirements and to let banks know it plans to “exercise its enforcement and supervisory authorities” on the issue. 

Posting fake positive reviews and making customers contractually obligated to not post negative reviews were two of the alleged practices highlighted by the CFPB. 

The CFPB says these so-called “gag clauses or non-disparagement clauses” are harmful to consumers. 

“These provisions typically impose monetary or other penalties for publishing negative comments regarding the provider’s services or products,” states the compliance bulletin. 

The Consumer Review Fairness Act — which became a federal law in 2016 — stipulates companies cannot use gag clauses to keep customers from writing negative reviews. 

CFPB Says Review Restrictions Will Be Considered Deceptive

Now, the CFPB says it will consider review restrictions in contracts an act of deception and a violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, and will consider it unlawful for a company to take action against a consumer who posts a negative review. 

“It would be natural for consumers to believe that they need to remove existing negative reviews, stop posting such reviews, or pay the purported penalty or fee, which is not the case,”  the CFPB says.

Attempting to manipulate online reviews also does a disservice to consumers who are looking to choose a bank or financial institution, since they won’t be seeing authentic feedback, the CFPB says.

Further, the CFPB says manipulating online reviews harms consumers who have taken the time to leave legitimate feedback. 

“The Bureau notes that consumer reviews can be important to two groups of consumers: the consumers who read and rely upon reviews, as well as the consumers who take the time to express their viewpoints by writing them in the first place,” the CFPB says. 

In the UK, an issue with online reviews — revolving around products on Amazon — was uncovered by a consumer advocacy group in February 2021. 

The group, Which?, revealed it found firms had been hiring people to write bogus reviews for items they hadn’t actually purchased, in return for cash or free products. 

Has a bank or financial service firm discouraged or barred you from writing a negative review about them? Let us know in the comments! 

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