Upon opening its doors three years ago, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) began accepting complaints from consumers
about consumer financial products. Consumers can review those
complaints via a public portal available here.
The CFPB is now proposing a new policy related to the disclosure
of complaint information, which would permit consumers to opt-in to
allowing the Bureau to publish a narrative description of the
complaint. This narrative would not contain any personally
identifiable information, and companies would have an opportunity
to provide a narrative response.
Comments are due 30 days from publication in the Federal Register.
What Information Is Available via the Complaint Database?
At present, the CFPB publishes the following information related
to the complaint:
- Complaint ID. The unique identification number for the complaint.
- Product. The type of product the consumer identified in the complaint (i.e., consumer loan, debt collection, mortgage, etc.).
- Sub-Product. The type of sub-product the consumer identified in the complaint (i.e., FHA, vehicle loan, etc.).
- Issue. The issue the consumer identified in the complaint (i.e., continued attempts to collect debt not owed, loan modification, foreclosure, etc.).
- Sub-Issue. The sub-issue the consumer identified in the complaint (i.e., debt is not mine, etc.).
- State. The consumer's reported mailing state for the complaint.
- Zip Code. The consumer's reported zip code for the complaint.
- Method of Transmission. How the consumer transmitted the complaint to the CFPB (i.e., telephone, database, etc.).
- Date Received. The date the CFPB received the complaint.
- Date Sent to Company. The date the CFPB sent the complaint to the company.
- Company Name. The company receiving the complaint.
- Company Response. How the company responded to the complaint. These choices are from a set list: (i) In progress; (ii) Closed; (iii) Closed with explanation; or (iv) Closed with non-monetary relief.
- Timely? Whether the company responded in a timely manner (15 days).
- Consumer Disputed? Whether the consumer disputed the response (yes or no).
Note that the data available at present does not include a full
narrative description of the complaint.
What Is the CFPB Proposing?
The CFPB will only disclose narratives: (i) for which informed
consumer consent has been obtained; and (ii) that have been
scrubbed of personal information. To provide consent, the consumer
will check a box to opt-in. The opt-in consent will state that: (i)
whether or not consent is given will have no impact on how the CFPB
handles the complaint; (ii) if given, the consumer may thereafter
inform the CFPB that she withdraws her consent at any time, and the
narrative will be removed; and (iii) the CFPB will take reasonable
steps to remove personal information from the complaint to minimize
the risk of re-identification (putting together separate data sets
to identify individuals).
Consumer, civil rights, and open government groups are largely in
support of this disclosure, based on the belief that the narratives
will provide consumers with more useful information on which to
base financial decisions and will allow reviewers to assess the
validity of the complaints.
Trade groups and industry, however, almost universally oppose the
publication of narrative data.
For those consumers who opt-in to the narrative sharing, the
company will have the opportunity to provide a narrative response.
Companies will be directed to omit any personally-identifying
information, and the CFPB will scrub the response for any
information that risks re-identification.
What Is the Risk of Reporting Narratives?
The CFPB identifies two primary risks in reporting the
narratives. First, consumers could be identified via
re-identification strategies.
Second, and arguably more important, is the risk that the
narrative is factually inaccurate. Consumers often misremember or
misunderstand the facts of the situation. This kind of
misinformation being publicly disseminated via a government agency
could result in significant reputation damage to an institution. To
mitigate this risk, the CFPB is also proposing to permit companies
to provide a response to the narrative. Thus, to the extent there
are factual disputes, both sides will be displayed.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.