Consumers continue to complain about the difficulties of resolving credit report errors, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s monthly complaint snapshot. This month’s snapshot covers complaints the bureau has received as of Feb. 1, 2017. The snapshot (Vol. 20) also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from Louisiana and the New Orleans metro area.
"Credit reports provide the means for consumers everywhere to take important steps in their financial lives," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "The Bureau will continue to work to ensure that credit reports are accurate and when disputed issues arise on credit reports, consumers are able to resolve them quickly and with little hassle."
Credit reporting complaints. As of Feb. 1, 2017, the CFPB has handled approximately 1,110,100 consumer complaints across all products nationally. Approximately 185,700 of those complaints were about credit reporting. According to the snapshot, consumers complained about:
- difficulties submitting disputes to credit reporting companies;
- inaccurate information on credit reports; and
- confusion over the variety of scores and scoring factors that accompany credit score information.
National overview. The snapshot includes statistics about complaints submitted to the CFPB nationally. The findings include the following:
- Debt collection was the most complained-about financial product or service in January 2017, followed by student loans and credit reporting.
- Student loan complaints showed the greatest increase of any product or service in a year-to-year comparison examining the three-month time period of November through January.
- Georgia, South Dakota, and Mississippi had the greatest year-to-year complaint volume increases from November 2016 to January 2017 versus the same time period 12 months before.
- The top three companies receiving the most complaints from September through November 2016 were Wells Fargo, Equifax, and Transunion.
Spotlight on Louisiana. As of Feb. 1, 2017, consumers in Louisiana have submitted 12,400 of the 1,110,100 complaints the CFPB has handled to date. Of those complaints, 4,500 came from consumers in the New Orleans metro area. The snapshot includes the following findings:
- Debt collection complaints accounted for 34 percent of all complaints submitted by consumers from Louisiana, a rate that is higher than the national rate of debt collection complaints.
- Consumers in Louisiana submitted complaints about credit reporting at roughly the national average.
- The most complained about companies were Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
For more information about the CFPB monthly complaint snapshots, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
