COVID-19 Consumer Complaints Skyrocket at CFPB

The CFPB received a record number of complaints during April and May, according to a new report by the agency.

According to the CFPB, mortgage and credit card complaints were at the top of the list of the more than 72,000 complaints filed during those two months. The report noted that the “historically higher” number of complaints mentioned the coronavirus, COVID-19 or related terms. Of the complaints filed, more than 4.500 were virus-related issues.

The agency’s data showed that 22% of the complaints were related to mortgages and 19% to credit cards.

According to the CFPB’s report, “Among mortgage complaints that mention coronavirus keywords, 59% of consumers identified struggling to pay the mortgage as the issue. For credit card complaints, 19% of consumers identified a problem with purchase shown or statement as the issue.”

The report also highlighted other complaint issues, including:

• Servicemembers submitted approximately 600 complaints mentioning coronavirus keywords in March and April 2020; 8% of complaints submitted by servicemembers were COVID-related compared to 5% of non-servicemembers.
• Older Americans, those age 62 and older, submitted approximately 300 complaints mentioning coronavirus keywords in March and April 2020; 9% of complaints submitted by older consumers were COVID-related compared to 6% of non-older consumers.
• Comparing the weekly average complaint volume before and after the coronavirus emergency declaration, prepaid card complaints saw the greatest percent increase at 77% and student loan complaints saw the greatest percent decrease at 21%.

According to the CFPB, the agency has handled 2.2 million consumer complaints since 2011.