Technical Glitches in CFPB’s Complaint System Prevent Customer Complaints From Being Heard

by Troutman Sanders CFPB Team

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB)'s complaint system, which launched on July 21, 2011 and was designed to help consumers resolve disputes with credit card issuers, is off to a rocky start.  A Bloomberg news report revealed that consumer complaints filed online on CFPB's website have yet to reach issuers due to technical problems.  CFPB spokeswoman Jennifer Howard attributes the problem to "browser compatibility issues."  

Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to log complaints and route them to the appropriate authority.  It further requires the CFPB and other regulators to create procedures to ensure that financial companies provide a timely response - usually within 10 days - to consumers.  Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, indicated that banks are concerned that they might be blamed for unanswered queries.  Nessa Feddis, vice president and senior counsel for the American Bankers Association, reported to creditcards.com that member banks have not been receiving email alerts when consumers file complaints and thus cannot quickly respond to those complaints.  Both groups feel that the initial problem resulted in part from a lack of testing before launch.  CFPB worked with several banks before launch but did not contact them afterward for follow-up.  Feddis also highlighted concerns with the vaguely worded form.  Howard has indicated that the vast majority of complaints are being correctly routed and that the technological issues will be resolved "in the very near future."

The complaint system, which currently invites consumers to file complaints about credit cards but will eventually cover other financial services, may have a big impact on the banking industry.  The CFPB is already sharing complaint information with some state Attorneys General, and a committee within the CFPB is considering how much complaint information to release to the public and is developing "a comprehensive policy" on complaint data.

Read more at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Report by Troutman Sanders LLP. 

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