Credit or consumer reporting was the most-complained about financial product or service category in March, the federal consumer financial protection bureau said Thursday, with perennial complaint generator “debt collections” coming in second.
According to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP, formerly known as CFPB), 37% of about 30,300 complaints received in March by the agency were about credit or consumer reporting. Debt collection generated 27% of the complaints received by BCFP (about 22,000). The complaints were outlined in the bureau’s Complaint snapshot: Debt collection, released Thursday.
Historically, the consumer bureau said, complaints about debt collection have generated approximately 400,500 complaints since July 2011, when the agency first began accepting them. That number represents 27% of the total complaints the agency has received since then, it said. As of April 1, the bureau reported, it has received approximately 1.5 million complaints on a variety of consumer financial products.
“Some common themes emerged in our analysis of these complaints,” BCFP said. “For example, some people reported that there were debts on their consumer credit reports but that they did not have prior written notice of the existence of the debt. Some people stated in their complaints that they felt uncomfortable disclosing personal information to people who called asking for it because they were not sure whether the person calling was a legitimate debt collector. People also complained about the communication tactics companies used when attempting to collect a debt.”
The agency also reported that, in third place for complaints received in March were those about mortgages, accounting for 10% of that month’s protests.