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How we share complaint data

Each week we send thousands of consumer complaints about financial products and services to companies for response. Data from those complaints helps us understand the financial marketplace and protect consumers.

Ways we use complaint data

  • We forward each complaint to the appropriate company for a response.
  • We share complaint data with state and federal agencies. We also present reports to Congress.
  • We analyze complaint data to help with our work to supervise companies, enforce federal consumer financial laws, and write better rules and regulations.
  • We publish complaints in the Consumer Complaint Database (without information that directly identifies you).

What we publish in the Consumer Complaint Database

Complaints must meet all of the publication criteria in our policy statement , narrative data policy statement , and narrative scrubbing standard .

Types of complaint data we publish

We publish complaints after the company responds or after 15 days, whichever comes first.

Field name Description
Date received

The date the CFPB received the complaint. For example, “05/25/2013.”

Product

The type of product the consumer identified in the complaint. For example, “Checking or savings account” or “Student loan.”

Sub-product

The type of sub-product the consumer identified in the complaint. For example, “Checking account” or “Private student loan.”

Issue

The issue the consumer identified in the complaint. For example, “Managing an account” or “Struggling to repay your loan.”

Sub-issue

The sub-issue the consumer identified in the complaint. For example, “Deposits and withdrawals” or “Problem lowering your monthly payments.”

Consumer complaint narrative

Consumer complaint narrative is the consumer-submitted description of “what happened” from the complaint. Consumers must opt-in to share their narrative. We will not publish the narrative unless the consumer consents, and consumers can opt-out at any time. The CFPB takes reasonable steps to scrub personal information from each complaint that could be used to identify the consumer.

Company public response

The company’s optional, public-facing response to a consumer’s complaint. Companies can choose to select a response from a pre-set list of options that will be posted on the public database. For example, “Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error.”

Company

The complaint is about this company. For example, “ABC Bank.”

State

The state of the mailing address provided by the consumer.

ZIP code

The mailing ZIP code provided by the consumer. This field may: i) include the first five digits of a ZIP code; ii) include the first three digits of a ZIP code (if the consumer consented to publication of their complaint narrative); or iii) be blank (if ZIP codes have been submitted with non-numeric values, if there are less than 20,000 people in a given ZIP code, or if the complaint has an address outside of the United States).

Tags

Data that supports easier searching and sorting of complaints submitted by or on behalf of consumers.

For example, complaints where the submitter reports the age of the consumer as 62 years or older are tagged “Older American.” Complaints submitted by or on behalf of a servicemember or the spouse or dependent of a servicemember are tagged “Servicemember.” Servicemember includes anyone who is active duty, National Guard, or Reservist, as well as anyone who previously served and is a veteran or retiree.

Consumer consent provided?

Identifies whether the consumer opted in to publish their complaint narrative. We do not publish the narrative unless the consumer consents, and consumers can opt-out at any time.

Submitted via

How the complaint was submitted to the CFPB. For example, “Web” or “Phone.”

Date sent to company

The date the CFPB sent the complaint to the company.

Company response to consumer

This is how the company responded. For example, “Closed with explanation.”

Timely response?

Whether the company gave a timely response. For example, “Yes” or “No.”

Consumer disputed?

Whether the consumer disputed the company’s response.

Complaint ID

The unique identification number for a complaint.

We only share narratives with the consumer’s consent

A consumer complaint narrative is the consumer-submitted description of “what happened” from the complaint. Consumers must opt-in to share their narrative. We will not publish the narrative unless the consumer consents, and consumers can opt-out at any time. The CFPB takes reasonable steps to scrub personal information from each complaint that could be used to identify the consumer.

We don’t publish personal information

Personal information submitted as part of a complaint, such as names, contact information, account numbers, social security numbers, and supporting documents, helps the company identify the consumer. This information is not published in the Consumer Complaint Database.

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