CFPB Releases January 2019 Complaint Snapshot

According to the January 2019 Complaint Snapshot, between November 1, 2016, and October 31, 2018, the CFPB received 646,200 complaints, including approximately 28,100 complaints in October 2018.

In this Complaint Snapshot, the Bureau spotlighted mortgage complaints.  The Bureau received approximately 71,000 mortgage complaints, representing 11% of the total complaints.  The most common mortgage complaints were from consumers that: (i) had trouble during the payment process (42%); (ii) were struggling to pay their mortgage (36%); (iii) were applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage (12%); or (iv) were closing on a mortgage (7%).

Additionally, complaints about prepaid cards showed the greatest percentage increase from August – October 2017 (180 complaints) compared to August – October 2018 (228 complaints), representing an increase of approximately 26%.  Student loan complaints showed the greatest percentage decrease from August – October 2017 (1,086 complaints) compared to August – October 2018 (818 complaints), representing a decline of approximately 25%.  Moreover, credit or consumer reporting complaints (11,215) represented approximately 40% of the total complaints (28,077) that the Bureau received in October 2018.  According to the Complaint Snapshot, credit or consumer reporting, debt collection, checking or savings, credit cards, and mortgage complaints continue to be the top five most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing approximately 89% of the complaints submitted in October 2018.