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Report potential industry misconduct

Whether you’re a whistleblower or just have concerns you want to flag for us, we strongly encourage current or former industry employees and industry insiders to reach out to us about possible violations of consumer financial rights. We review every submission.

Email

You can send an email to whistleblower@cfpb.gov.

Further options are forthcoming for those who wish to use additional layers of encryption when contacting us via email.

Phone

You can call a dedicated phone number and leave a voicemail.

The CFPB’s Whistleblower Tip line is: (855) 695-7974

Mail

You can send a letter or package to us at:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
ATTN: Office of Enforcement, WB
1700 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20552

What happens when I submit information to the CFPB?

  • The CFPB processes all tips it receives. Applicable CFPB subject-matter experts, including fair lending experts and technologists, review, assess, and determine appropriate action for all credible tips.
  • Our investigations are confidential, so you should not expect information on the existence or status of an investigation.
  • You can submit information to us without providing your name or other personally identifiable information, or you can provide your contact information so that we can evaluate your information more thoroughly by contacting you.
  • Any information you provide to us, including any personal information you choose to provide, may be shared with other federal and state regulators, as authorized. Please see below and our Privacy Act Statement for more information on how CFPB collects and uses personal information submitted as part of a tip submission.
  • We can't accept confidential communications between a company's attorneys and the company or written materials prepared by attorneys in anticipation of litigation.

What are my protections?

  • The CFPB will take all possible steps to protect whistleblower tip submissions from public disclosure. This includes protection from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act when the source is identifiable from the whistleblower tip submission.
  • The CFPB also endeavors to protect whistleblower tip submissions during investigations and litigations, to the extent possible.
  • Your employer cannot retaliate against you for reporting illegal conduct within the CFPB’s authority to your employer or to a federal, state, or local government authority or law enforcement agency.
  • Learn more about your rights from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). You can file a complaint with OSHA if you think you have been fired or retaliated against for reporting any violations described above. For more information, call 1 (800) 321-OSHA (6742).

What information is relevant to the CFPB?

  • We are interested in any information about conduct that may potentially violate any rules or laws over which the CFPB has authority. It may also include information or analysis about problematic policies or procedures, insufficient compliance management systems, or inappropriate or unlawful data gathering or analysis.
  • Not sure whether those laws or rules apply? Here are some examples of types of misconduct we’re interested in:
    • Any discrimination related to consumer financial products or services or small businesses
    • Any use of artificial intelligence/machine learning models that is based on flawed or incomplete data sets, that uses proxies for race, gender, or other group characteristics, or that impacts particular groups or classes of people more than others
    • Misleading or deceptive advertising of consumer financial products or services, including mortgages
    • Failure to collect, maintain, and report accurate mortgage loan application and origination data
    • Failure to provide or use accurate consumer reporting information
    • Failure to review mortgage borrowers’ loss mitigation applications in a timely manner
    • Any unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice with respect to any consumer financial product or service

CFPB whistleblowers

Are you a current or former CFPB employee looking to report potential wrongdoing by the CFPB?

Submit a tip