CFBP does more than tackle large problems

By: The VNN Team  //  Consumer News

For consumers who have a dispute or other issue with a company, arbitration may be cost prohibitive and complaints to the company may go unanswered.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also accepts individual consumer complaints and forwards them to the company.

The company then has 15 days to respond to the complaint. Should the complainant agree, the complaint is posted on the CFPB’s website. The response from the company will also be posted if the company so agrees.

The complaints received by the CFPB vary from credit reporting to issues with mortgages and consumer loans.

One of the most frequent complaints about credit reporting is the difficulty in removing erroneous information. Many consumers wrote that they were unsuccessful in having incorrect names, addresses, and credit information removed.

Mortgage complaints vary in nature, as do banking complaints.

If the CFPB feels another government agency can better address the complaint, it forwards the complaint to that agency. Complaint data is also shared with state and federal law enforcement agencies.

According to the CFPB website, “Complaints help with our work to supervise companies, enforce federal consumer financial laws, and write better rules and regulations. We also report to Congress about the complaints we receive and post some consumer complaint data.”

The CFPB has been in the news a lot as the agency proposes to change arbitration agreements. The agency is seeking to eliminate the clause that would prohibit class action lawsuits in the event of a dispute.

Most companies allow consumers to opt out of arbitration clauses, however, many don’t read the fine print in consumer contracts and many don’t exercise the right to opt out, leaving those who do the opportunity to file a class suit, but also leaving them with few to join the class suit because they are bound to the terms of the arbitration agreement.

The CFPB website contains a listing of the complaints and in many instances, the outcome.

Image: Flickr/Ted Eytan