Research and reports

Over 1.2 million adults ages 60 and older lost a spouse in 2019. This spotlight describes the characteristics and financial circumstances of older surviving spouses.

This report presents the CFPB’s observations of data provided by sixteen mortgage servicers for the period May-December 2021 regarding key servicing metrics and COVID-19 pandemic response.

This data spotlight examines the characteristics and experiences of the 3.2 million older adults living in mobile homes in 2022.

The Bureau is committed to ensuring fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for both individuals, small businesses, and communities. This report describes our fair lending activities in enforcement and supervision; guidance and rulemaking; interagency coordination; and outreach and education for calendar year 2021.

This is the 26th edition of Supervisory Highlights. The findings included in this report cover examinations completed between July 2021 and December 2021 in the areas of auto servicing, consumer reporting, credit card account management, debt collection, deposits, mortgage origination, prepaid accounts, remittances, and student loan servicing.

The FY 2021 Equal Employment Opportunity status report known as Management Directive 715 (MD-715) for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

This report analyzes debt collection and credit or consumer reporting complaints submitted to the Bureau in 2021.

This report highlights the CFPB’s research on rural consumers as well as contextual information from other agencies on the consumer finance challenges faced by rural communities.

The Bureau’s annual report to Congress summarizes the Bureau’s activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 2021 as the primary federal regulator of the consumer debt collection industry. This report also includes activities conducted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2021 in relation to debt collection.

The CFPB's Equity Action Plan

New analysis of student loan borrowers to identify groups of borrowers who may encounter difficulties when the CARES Act federal payment suspension ends.

Fall 2021 Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

This report examines state payday loan extended payment plans, an intervention allowing consumers to repay their payday loans in no-cost installments. It finds that despite the prevalence of state laws providing for these plans, rollover and default rates consistently exceed extended payment plan usage rates.

The FY 2021 OMWI annual report to Congress provides detailed information about the diversity and inclusion work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began consumer response operations on July 21, 2011, and became the first federal agency solely focused on consumer financial protection. The Bureau’s Consumer Response team hears directly from consumers about the challenges they face in the marketplace, brings their concerns to the attention of financial institutions, and assists in addressing their complaints.

This report explores both the significant consumer impact of and industry reliance on credit card late fees.

This COVID-19 Special Issue Brief follows up on a May 2021 report that discussed the characteristics of mortgage borrowers, including demographics, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant number of homeowners have transitioned out of those forbearances over the last year due, in part, to improving economic conditions and the expiration of protections under these programs for many loans beginning in the Fall of 2021. Given these changes, our goal in this report is to better understand the characteristics of borrowers who remain in forbearance, as reported through January 2022.

New analysis in our Making Ends Meet series looks at financial security by examining how much consumers have in emergency savings and their financial profiles.

In 2018, 4.5 million adults ages 65 and older had medical debt, and many experienced significant hardships. This data spotlight describes the characteristics of older adults with medical debt, measured as having a past due medical bill, using the most recent data from the FINRA Foundation National Financial Capability Study (NFCS).

The FY 2021 No FEAR Act annual report for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Formal EEO complaint activity for the CFPB.

The 2021 Financial Literacy Annual Report details the CFPB’s financial literacy strategy and activities to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Overall, this report describes the CFPB’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives.

This report summarizes key areas of concern in medical debt collections and reporting. The report begins with a section describing the medical debt landscape. It then discusses the negative consequences of medical debt for consumers. Next, it outlines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical debt. The report concludes with a brief discussion of federal and state regulatory developments.

On January 3, 2019, the Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act (GAO-IG Act) was enacted as Public Law number 115-414. The GAO-IG Act requires agencies to annually submit a report to Congress on the status of open public audit recommendations. This report is published by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in compliance with that law.

66.4% of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employee population responded to the Annual Employee Survey (AES) administered from September 13 to October 15, 2021. CFPB leaders use feedback from tools such as the AES to develop strategies to promote a more inclusive, effective, and efficient organization. Survey results are shared across the organization to encourage leaders to actively seek and respond to opportunities to improve the employee work experience.

This report outlines challenges faced by justice-involved people and their families in navigating their finances at each stage of the criminal justice system.