CFPB Releases Updated COVID-19 Consumer Complaint Data

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today issued an updated Complaint Bulletin, analyzing the more than 8,000 complaints it received from January through May 2020 that mention coronavirus or related terms (“coronavirus keywords”). The bulletin shows that mortgage (19 percent), credit card (18 percent), and credit or consumer reporting (18 percent) complaints top the list of complaints the Bureau has received that mention coronavirus keywords.

Highlights of complaints about these consumer financial products and services that mention coronavirus key words:

• In 55 percent of mortgage complaints, consumers identified struggling to pay the mortgage as the issue.
• In 23 percent of credit card complaints, consumers identified a problem with purchase shown or statement as the issue.
• In 55 percent of credit or consumer reporting complaints, consumers identified incorrect information on their credit report as the issue.

Other Complaint Bulletin highlights:

• Comparing the weekly average complaint volume before and after the coronavirus emergency declaration, prepaid card complaints saw the greatest percent increase at 105 percent, and student loan complaints saw the greatest percent decrease at 24 percent.
• Servicemembers submitted approximately 1,000 complaints mentioning coronavirus keywords from March through May 2020: 10 percent of complaints submitted by servicemembers were COVID related compared to 6 percent of non-servicemember complaints.
• Older Americans, those age 62 and older, submitted approximately 300 complaints mentioning coronavirus keywords from March through May 2020: 10 percent of complaints submitted by older consumers were COVID related compared to 7 percent of non-older consumer complaints.
• Consumers have submitted approximately 187,000 complaints to the Bureau in 2020.

The Complaint Bulletin also includes:

• Complaint volume distribution by consumer financial product or service for complaints mentioning coronavirus keywords relative to complaints overall.
• Weekly complaint volume by consumer financial product or service with comparisons between the period before and after the declaration of a national emergency.
• Highlights of common issues from a systematic review of complaint narratives that mention coronavirus keywords.

Since 2011, the Bureau has handled more than 2.2 million consumer complaints. More than 5,000 financial companies have responded through this process, providing timely responses to 97 percent of the nearly 1.6 million complaints sent to them for response.

The public can view the complaints in the database at a state-level, filter and sort complaints, and search published complaint narratives for key words of interest. Visit the Consumer Complaint Database.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.