RSSBanks, credit card companies, mortgage companies and credit reporting agencies resolved all but 2 percent of the complaints sent to them by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2012, according to the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress and the President released March 29.
Last year, the CFPB received about 92,000 complaints. Financial institutions were sent 70,400 of those complaints. They have responded to all but 1,408.
Financial companies reporting to the CFPB record their correspondence with their customer and the complaint’s resolution in the bureau’s complaint system. Across all complaint types, including credit card, mortgage, bank account and services, student loan, consumer loan and credit reporting, 65 percent were reported “closed with explanation,” a category used when an explanation is all the consumer needs to achieve their desired resolution.
The next largest category was complaints closed with monetary relief. Consumers received the most monetary relief from complaints about bank accounts and services, credit cards and mortgages. About 4,553 consumers received monetary relief from a credit card complaint. About 3,640 consumers who logged a complaint about bank accounts and services received monetary relief; as did 1,975 consumers who submitted a mortgage complaint. (A the full table for every complaint type can be found on pages 33 and 34 of the report.)
While the amount of relief received by consumers varied by product, the median amount of relief reported by companies was $145. The median amount of relief for credit card complaints was approximately $123. For mortgage complaints the median amount was $413; and for bank account and service complaints the median amount was $105.
Also, the majority of consumers did not dispute the resolution. While consumers can notify the CFPB within 30 days if they are not satisfied with the financial company’s response, approximately 61 percent chose not do to so. Only 22 percent did dispute the response provided.
Of the remaining 16,600 complaints logged in the CFPB’s complaint database, other regulatory agencies have received 11 percent. Another 3 percent were found to be incomplete. At the time of the report, 3 percent were still pending with the CFPB and 1 percent was pending with consumers.
