From the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau:
Today’s launch expands the Consumer Complaint Database significantly from about 19,000 credit card complaints to more than 90,000 complaints on mortgages, student loans, bank accounts and services, other consumer loans, and credit cards. In many cases, it includes the sub-category of products. For example, for mortgages it includes reverse mortgages, conventional fixed mortgages, conventional adjustable mortgages, and home equity loans or lines of credit.
The database allows the public to see what consumers complained about and why, as well as how and when the company in question responds. It has more than one million data points, covering approximately 450 companies. It includes the type of complaint, the date of submission, the consumer’s ZIP code, and the company that the complaint concerns. The database also includes information about the actions taken on a complaint by those companies – whether the company’s response was timely, how the company responded, and whether the consumer disputed the company’s response. A consumer’s identity and other personal information is not included in the data.
The database allows users to easily track, sort, search, and download information. The data is also available via API (application programming interface), which allows developers to build applications, conduct analyses, and perform research. Consumers can build their own visualizations, charts and graphs. The data can also be embedded on other websites and shared through social media.
The live database updates daily; so as the CFPB handles more complaints, more will be added. When the CFPB accepts consumer complaints about other financial products and services, they will be put on the database after a period of time. For example, credit reporting complaints, which the CFPB recently began to accept, will be included in the database in the near future.
From The Chronicle of Higher Education:
The bureau started collecting complaints about private student loans in March 2012, and this February it began asking for suggestions on how to make private-loan payments more affordable and create a refinancing market. That request has drawn more than 500 responses that highlight a growing call for improvement in policy options for private-loan borrowers, according to a written statement by Rohit Chopra, the bureau’s loan ombudsman. Among the top concerns for borrowers is their inability to refinance their loans or negotiate more-flexible repayment options.
Direct to Consumer Complaint Database (via CFPB)
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