The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s April 2016 complaint snapshot highlights the continuing problems consumers are having with mortgage servicing. This month’s snapshot also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from California.
“Today’s report shows that consumers are still running into too many dead ends and obstacles in resolving issues with their mortgage servicer,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “The Bureau will continue to press to make sure that people can get the right information and the timely help they need.”
Product spotlight on mortgages. As of April 1, 2016, the CFPB has received approximately 223,100 mortgage complaints from consumers. The majority of complaints about mortgages—51 percent—were about problems consumers faced when making payments. Consumers complained of prolonged loss mitigation review processes that included repeated requests by servicers for the same documentation. Consumers also complained that they received conflicting and confusing foreclosure notifications during the loss mitigation review process.
Another common complaint submitted to the CFPB was difficulty communicating with servicers. Consumers complained that when they were able to speak with their servicers, the information they received often was confusing and did not provide any clarity, leading to delays in resolutions of mortgage issues.
According to the snapshot, the four companies about which the CFPB received the most mortgage-related complaints between November 2015 and January 2016 were Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ocwen, and Nationstar Mortgage.
National complaints. The report provides an overview of national complaints. As of April 1, 2016, the CFPB has handled 859,900 complaints nationally. Statistics highlighted in the snapshot include:
- complaint volume: for the month of March 2016, consumers submitted 8,243 debt collection complaints to the CFPB;
- complaints submitted relating to credit reporting rose 35 percent between February and March of 2016, with 3,321 credit reporting complaints submitted in March;
- the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, and Florida had the highest concentration of complaints submitted; and
- the top three companies about which the CFPB received the most complaints between November 2015 and January 2016 were Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Spotlight on California. As of April 1, 2016, consumers in California have submitted about 118,900 of the 859,900 complaints the CFPB has handled, with the majority of complaints being about mortgages. According to the report, consumer complaints from California were more likely to be about mortgages than consumer complaints nationally. Mortgage complaints account for 26 percent of all complaints submitted to the CFPB nationally, but they accounted for 32 percent of complaints submitted from consumers in California.
Debt collection complaints from California were lower than the national average: 24 percent of all complaints as compared to 26 percent of all complaints nationally.
Finally, the three most complained-about companies for California consumers are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Experian.
For more information about the CFPB's monthly complaint snapshots, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
