CFPB mortgage complaint system is up and running

By Sartaj Alag – JAN 05, 2012

The CFPB is accepting mortgage complaints from consumers who have experienced difficulties in the housing market, including problems related to mortgage documents, mortgage servicers, and foreclosure.

As most people know, problems in the mortgage industry were a major cause of the 2008 financial crisis. As the nation’s consumer watchdog, the CFPB is here to make sure those in the mortgage industry are following Federal consumer financial laws.

To submit complaints, inquires, feedback, or just plain tell the CFPB about an experience they had with mortgages, consumers can:

Call our toll-free phone number at 1-855-411-CFPB (2372)
Visit us online
Fax us at 1-855-237-2392
Mail a letter to P.O. Box 4503, Iowa City, IA 52244

When we receive a consumer complaint, we review the complaint for completeness, jurisdiction, and duplication. We forward the complaint to the relevant financial institution for review and resolution. The institution has 15 days to provide a response to the CFPB. Institutions are expected to resolve and close all but the most complicated complaints within 60 days.

Throughout this process, consumers can log in to CFPB’s website to check the status of their complaints. If they are not satisfied with how their complaint was resolved, they can dispute the resolution.

The CFPB will prioritize for investigation those complaints that are not resolved in a timely manner by the financial institution and those in which the consumer disputes the resolution provided by the financial institution. If we detect potential legal violations, the Consumer Response office works closely with other parts of the Bureau – including the Supervision, Enforcement, and Regulations offices – to ensure that appropriate investigations are initiated.

Data collected through the Consumer Response office is shared throughout the Bureau to help inform decisions about, for example, consumer education or rulemaking.

The Bureau started taking credit card-related complaints and inquiries when we launched on July 21, 2011. We will expand Consumer Response to handle complaints and inquiries about all other consumer financial products and services – including those involving nonbanks – by the end of 2012. Nonbanks are companies that offer consumer financial products or services, such as debt collectors, payday lenders, and credit reporting agencies.

Sartaj Alag is the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Consumer Response