CFPB Retaining Controversial Public Consumer Complaint Database

The CFPB will keep its controversial consumer complaint database available to the public, despite criticism by credit unions, banks and the agency’s former acting director.

“Since its inception, the Consumer Complaint Database has not been without controversy,” CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said. She added when the bureau asked for feedback on the database, the agency received almost 26,000 comments.

She said that the agency has handled more than 1.9 million complaints.

In announcing the decision, Kraninger said the database will include “enhanced data and context that will benefit consumers and users of the database while addressing many of the concerns raised,” adding that the “continued publication of the database, along with the enhancements, empowers consumers and informs the public.”

In commenting on the database when the CFPB solicited feedback, CUNA said, in a white paper, “While soliciting complaints via the Bureau’s website makes the process efficient for consumers, it also has the potential of increasing unfounded complaints.”

CUNA officials said that since the CFPB has responsibility over a small number of credit unions, complaints should be referred to the NCUA.

And NAFCU President/CEO B. Dan Berger said the information should not be made public.

The “complaint data should be treated as non-public information and should be limited to internal use given its significant influence over the bureau’s supervisory functions,” he said.

When he was acting agency director, Mick Mulvaney went even further.

“It is mandated by law,” he told an American Bankers Association conference last year. “I don’t see anything in here that I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government. I don’t see anything in here that says that I have to make all of those public.”

Consumer groups and Democrats on Capitol Hill called the database an invaluable consumer tool.

Kraninger decided that the database is valuable, but also announced changes to it.

The agency intends to more prominently display that the database is not a statistical sampling of consumer experiences, as well as information ensuing that consumers understand they can contact a financial company directly, she said.

Among other changes, Kraninger also said that the CFPB will explore the expansion of a company’s ability to publicly respond to complaints in the database.

A consumer advocate praised the decision.

“This announcement is a victory for both consumers and the marketplace,” said Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG senior director for Federal Consumer Programs. He said that the database “not only serves as a powerful tool to help financial consumers make choices, but also gives watchdog groups, academics and the private sector a way to analyze and highlight problems.”