Research and reports

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s eighth annual Plain Writing Act Compliance Report is presented to fulfill the Bureau’s statutory responsibilities pursuant to the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

A new analysis investigating the financial conditions of renters and homeowners before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This guide identifies promising practices and common challenges in providing remote financial coaching services.

2021 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) report on college credit card agreements.

This report describes the Bureau’s methodology for estimating how many banks would be required to report under the proposed rule implementing section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act and for producing market-level estimates of associated costs.

This Bureau Data Point article describes 2020 mortgage market activity and trends using data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

This report presents the CFPB’s observations of data provided by sixteen large mortgage servicers regarding COVID-19 pandemic response, including key metrics such as call center data; forbearance requests, denials, and exits; delinquency; and borrower profiles.

This report is an update to CFPB’s May 2020 report and December 2020 blog regarding the effects of COVID-19 on credit applications (or credit inquiries). It examines the different paths of recovery for types of credit applications.

The CFPB’s Office of Consumer Response hears directly from consumers about the challenges they face in the marketplace, brings their concerns to the attention of companies, and assists in addressing their complaints.

This Complaint Bulletin analyzes COVID-19 issues described in consumer complaints.

A new analysis investigating how characteristics of mortgages, borrowers, and lenders vary across AAPI subgroups, based on the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.

This report explores the trends of commercial credit reporting on consumer credit.

This is the 24th edition of Supervisory Highlights. The findings included in this report cover examinations in the areas of auto servicing, consumer reporting, debt collection, deposits, fair lending, mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, payday lending, private education loan origination and student loan servicing that were completed between January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

A brief overview of the general lending patterns of HMDA reporters with the closed-end origination volumes around the new HMDA reporting threshold set by the 2020 HMDA Rule.

This report analyzes manufactured home loans, using two new fields in the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data to understand the manufactured housing finance market and compare chattel loans and mortgages.

This report presents results and lessons learned from the CFPB’s Financial Coaching Initiative. The CFPB placed financial coaches in 60 community-based organizations across the country. The program reached over 23,000 veterans and economically vulnerable consumers. The report provides guidance on how to implement a coaching program across a range of diverse communities and organizations.

This annual report from the Office of Servicemember Affairs highlights the activities of the office as well as complaints and emerging issues facing the military community in the financial marketplace.

A new analysis in our Making Ends Meet survey series looks at how consumers use payday, auto title, and pawn loans.

This third COVID-19 Special Issue Brief describes the characteristics of mortgage borrowers, including demographics, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report focuses on borrowers with loans that are in forbearance or delinquent as reported through March 2021.

The CFPB’s Office of Consumer Response hears directly from consumers about the challenges they face in the marketplace, brings their concerns to the attention of companies, and assists in addressing their complaints.

This Complaint Bulletin analyzes mortgage forbearance issues described in consumer complaints.

This report provides a foundational set of benchmarks of the financial well-being of Hispanics ages 18 and older in the United States in 2018, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, that practitioners and researchers can use in their work.

A new analysis examines the early impact of COVID-19 on consumers’ finances, finding that, in general, they were more able to stay on top of finances in June 2020 than June 2019.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB orders an annual independent audit of the operations and budget of the Bureau. The purpose of this audit is to provide objective analyses to improve program performance and operations, reduce costs, facilitate decision-making, and contribute to public accountability.

The CFPB’s Office of Consumer Response hears directly from consumers about the challenges they face in the marketplace, brings their concerns to the attention of companies, and assists in addressing their complaints.

This Complaint Bulletin analyzes complaints submitted by consumers in counties nationwide.

We follow specific standards for maintaining affirmative employment programs and take steps to ensure that policies, practices, and procedures are conducted in an inclusive manner for employees and applicants.

This report describes our fair lending activities in prioritization, supervision, enforcement, guidance and rulemaking, interagency coordination, and outreach for calendar year 2020.