CFPB Releases May 2016 Complaint Report

The CFPB released its May 2016 complaint report which is the eleventh in its series of monthly complaint reports.  According to the May 24, 2016 Monthly Complaint Report (Vol. 11) as of May 1, 2016, the CFPB has handled over 882,800 complaints, including approximately 23,870 complaints in April 2016.

Complaints about student loans showed the greatest percentage increase from February – April 2015 (669) complaints to February – April 2016 (992 complaints), representing about a 48 percent increase.  Payday loan complaints showed the greatest percentage decrease from February – April 2015 (498 complaints) to February – April 2016 (406 complaints), representing about a 19 percent decline.  As of May 1, 2016 debt collection complaints represented more than any other type of complaint, representing about 27 percent of total cumulative complaints and about 31% of complaints submitted in April 2016.  Prepaid complaints showed the greatest month-over-month percentage decrease (-27 percent).  Debt collection, credit reporting, and mortgage complaints continue to be the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing about 68 percent of complaints submitted in April, 2016.

This month the CFPB spotlighted Credit Reporting complaints. The majority of complaints about credit reports are those involving incorrect information on the credit report (approximately 77 percent of all credit reporting complaints).

For this month’s complaint report New Mexico and the Albuquerque metro area are the CFPB’s geographical spotlight.  As of May 1, 2016, about 4,700 complaints were from New Mexico consumers, of which about 2,200 (48 percent) were from the Albuquerque metro area.