CFPB Releases January 2016 Complaint Report

The CFPB released its January 2016 complaint report which is the eighth in its series of monthly complaint reports.

According to the January 2016 Monthly Complaint Report (Vol. 8, As of February 1, 2016), the CFPB has handled approximately 811,700 complaints, including approximately 21,800 complaints in January 2016. Table 1 of the Report shows the percentage change in complaint volume by product from November 2014 – January 2015 to November 2015 – January 2016.

Prepaid complaints showed the greatest percentage increase from November 2014-January 2015 (147 complaints) to November 2015-January 2016 (238 complaints), representing a 62 percent increase.  Payday loan complaints showed the greatest percentage decrease from November 2014- January 2015 (100 complaints) to November 2015 – January 2016 (409 complaints), representing a 12 percent decline.  Debt collection complaints represented more than any other type of complaint, representing about 31 percent of complaints submitted in January of 2016.  Debt collection, credit reporting, and mortgage complaints continue to be the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing about 67 percent of complaints submitted in January 2016.

For this month’s complaint report the Houston metro area and Texas are the CFPBs geographical spotlight.  As of February 1, 2016, about 63,200 complaints were from Texas consumers, of which about 15,700 complaints were from the Houston metro area.