Reports

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.

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 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.

This report provides an overview of the Bureau’s publicly available website and digital services, in accordance with the reporting requirements of the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act or the 21st Century IDEA (Public Law No. 115-336).

This report summarizes information about certain consumer complaints transmitted by the CFPB to the nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs)—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

New analysis in our Making Ends Meet series shows consumers’ finances improved during the pandemic as pandemic policies protected consumers.

This is the 25th edition of Supervisory Highlights. The findings included in this report cover examinations completed between January 2021 and June 2021 in the areas of credit card account management, debt collection, deposits, fair lending, mortgage servicing, payday lending, prepaid accounts, and remittance transfers.

This report describes overdraft practices and outcomes at several thousand credit unions and banks in 2014 using data provided by core processors.

This report uses call report data to study the evolution of banks’ reliance on overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees since 2015.

In 2020, financial institutions filed over 62,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to report suspected elder financial exploitation (EFE) involving over $3.4 billion.

The financial report provides readers with the summary results of the CFPB’s operational activity and it is the principal statement of our accountability to the American people, the United States Congress, and the President of the United States.