Which Financial Institutions Get The Most Consumer Complaints In America?
Have you heard of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)? It was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and stood up in July of 2011.
The Dodd-Frank Act was passed in response to the 2008 global financial crisis and brought significant changes to financial regulation in the nation. Dodd-Frank overhauled the financial regulatory environment and made changes to almost every part of the nation’s financial services industry.
But what is the specific purpose of the CFPB?
In their own words:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulates the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the federal consumer financial laws and educates and empowers consumers to make better informed financial decisions.
We aim to make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole. We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law. We arm people with the information, steps, and tools that they need to make smart financial decisions.
The CFPB’s work includes:
- Rooting out unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices by writing rules, supervising companies, and enforcing the law
- Enforcing laws that outlaw discrimination in consumer finance
- Taking consumer complaints
- Enhancing financial education
- Researching the consumer experience of using financial products
- Monitoring financial markets for new risks to consumers
The CFPB is authorized by Congress to take legal action against companies and people that violate federal consumer financial law. Many or most of the functions of the CFPB were formerly the responsibility of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among others.
Depending on your point of view, the CFPB either centralized and consolidated these functions, or created yet another government bureaucracy.
I bolded the fact that they take consumer complaints for a reason. We as taxpayers fund the CFPB of course and as a taxpayer funded government entity they’re required to be transparent with their data. And when it comes to the consumer complaint data, they are.
The Data
I downloaded the master CFPB complaints database and dug in to see what goodness it could provide. It has over 1.86 million records! With the current U.S. population at around 325,700,000 that means there’s a complaint for every 174 Americans, which includes kids with no financial accounts. Ouch.
Of course the first thing I wanted to do was to see the data mapped out, because me. So here are the data mapped by state. I normalized for state populations.
The states and jurisdictions with the most complaints per capita
| State | Complaints per 1000 People |
| District of Columbia | 9.33 |
| Delaware | 6.1 |
| Georgia | 5.99 |
| Maryland | 5.8 |
| Florida | 5.54 |
The states with the least complaints per capita
| State | Complaints per 1000 People |
| Iowa | 1.51 |
| North Dakota | 1.56 |
| West Virginia | 1.62 |
| South Dakota | 1.69 |
| Montana | 1.78 |
They also report the financial institution for each complaint. In total the database is comprised of complaints levied at 4834 separate institutions.
Here are the 20 financial institutions that have the most complaints levied against them:
| Institution | Number of Complaints |
| EQUIFAX, INC. | 106338 |
| Experian Information Solutions Inc. | 95049 |
| TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. | 87615 |
| BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 80576 |
| WELLS FARGO & COMPANY | 68880 |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 58065 |
| CITIBANK, N.A. | 47273 |
| CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 32734 |
| Navient Solutions, LLC. | 28122 |
| OCWEN LOAN SERVICING LLC | 27468 |
| SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL | 20709 |
| NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE | 19892 |
| U.S. BANCORP | 16561 |
| Ditech Financial LLC | 13736 |
| AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY | 13003 |
| PNC Bank N.A. | 11408 |
| ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. | 10950 |
| DISCOVER BANK | 9831 |
| PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC | 9727 |
I guess it’s no real surprise the three credit bureaus have the most complaints, since pretty much anyone with money in an account anywhere has is forced to have a relationship with them.
It probably has nothing to do with the fact that the formulas and criteria they use to “score” you are kept secret. Nothing to do with that at all…
The next 5 institutions are major household names, and then it goes down from there. Of course these numbers are not the complete picture since organizations like JP Morgan or Citibank have way more customers than smaller banks. So it’s natural they’d get more total complaints.
A more balanced look to normalize things would be to factor in the number of customers they have, but that data is not provided.
The next part of the data that’s interesting is the “product/subproduct” category, which is the general classification of what financial item the complaint is about.
There are 19 total items and here they are ranked by frequency:
| Product | Number of Complaints |
| Mortgage | 272262 |
| Debt collection | 232523 |
| Credit reporting | 140432 |
| Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports | 193259 |
| Credit card | 89190 |
| Bank account or service | 86206 |
| Student loan | 49407 |
| Consumer Loan | 31605 |
| Credit card or prepaid card | 41318 |
| Checking or savings account | 35619 |
| Vehicle loan or lease | 9932 |
| Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service | 8994 |
| Payday loan | 5544 |
| Money transfers | 5354 |
| Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan | 7617 |
| Prepaid card | 3819 |
| Other financial service | 1059 |
| Virtual currency | 18 |
Being that a house is likely the most expensive thing most people will ever buy, once again it’s not too much of a surprise that mortgages are the #1 subject of complaints. The full database even has a field that lists more specifics, and I noticed a lot of “difficulty paying mortgage” records.
Also notice the #2 item is debt collection. This is where things get… revealing.
The CFPB folks didn’t seem to do the best data collection, so they have two separate fields for credit card debt – one titled “credit card”, and the other “credit card debt”. My laymens assumption is that these should be the same. But since they’re listed separately it appears they’re not the #1 item under debt collection, but they actually are extremely close to the top.
If you total the two credit card categories up you get 46,075 complaints, which is second only to “I do not know what my debt is” and ahead of “Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.).
??
So let’s look at this again. Of 1.86 million total CFPB complaints overall, complaints about debt issues are the second most numerous behind mortgages. And within those, the #1 subcategory is “I don’t know”, followed closely by credit card debt. Then sprinkle in a healthy dose of iPhones and health clubs, etc.
I was actually surprised that student loan debt was not the highest, since it’s the crisis we hear so much about. Notice there are 4 separate student loan categories in the data but they only total up to 8,325 complaints, nowhere near the top.
Kick The Tires Yourself
The cool thing is the CFPB has a live interface where you can query the data and play around yourself. If you want to see how many complaints your bank or financial institution has in the CFPB database, go here and take a look.
I did notice the web-based interface has way fewer total records than the full downloadable database, so I’m not sure if they’re kept in sync.
The data appears to be updated often, and is perhaps live on the website. I did my data pull on Sunday February 10th.
As always, interesting map! As for the comment about credit card complaints versus credit card debt, I totally see these as two separate areas. I’ve never had credit card debt, but I absolutely had issues with Bank of America when I was a cardholder (NEVER again!). At that time, they were the number one offender with the highest number of complaints against them. Even though that was a decade ago, I fully expected to see them at the top of this list. Lo and behold, they are not. Maybe they cleaned up their customer service act. Even so, not going back!
The funny thing is, I’ve had or have accounts with many of the companies listed and my only beef has been with BOA. Otherwise, I’ve been fine. It’s always good to see who the big offenders are though.
I’ve never used BOA, but might steer clear based on your experience.
It definitely is no surprise with the credit rating bureaus have a lot of complaints. The fact that 3 major ones exist and that each one has a different scoring system leaves us at their mercy as those 3 digits have such a huge impact on so many aspects of our lives.
I also question a rating system that doesn’t take into account income or the fact that your score can actually go down if you are debt free.
I agree, the whole credit score scheme is a mess and needs to be busted up if you ask me.
t doesn’t surprise me that the big three credit bureaus are at the top. Remember, in September 2017 Equifax announced the biggest data breach ever. I was on the list and froze my credit reports as a result. It’s a real pain if you want to apply for things like travel or cash back cards. I have to unfreeze one or all three before applying and the freeze them after the inquiry.
In past years, we had BOA credit cards. Worst. Service. Ever. Looks like they’re still a mess as they are at the top of the list after the credit bureaus.
Your data posts are always fascinating to me. I would never think to look up something like this. Now I don’t have to. I just read your posts. Thanks for that! 😃
The data breach was on my mind too Fred. That one really pissed me off. It’s one thing to have a store that you choose to do business with lose your data, but I never chose to do business with Equifax. I’m forced to. It’s un-American.
Anyone else notice that Equifax changed the company that provided your free monitoring after about a year? Anyone else notice that if you didn’t opt in to the change they no longer had to provide you the service? I wonder how many users they were able to siphon off with that little maneuver that they will probably pull year after year in the name of “making sure we provide you the best monitoring service possible”.
Did not notice that. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll have to read about it
Thanks for all the detective work. It is interesting to look at the data. My favorite is that the District of Colombia has the most complaints — over twice as many as most other areas. All the bribery and lobbying action must not have been paid on time 🙂
I can see a complaint from a Congressmen – “You promised me kickbacks if I passed that law and I never got them, I’m upset and I’m filing a complaint!!! oh wait…”
i needed the cfbp once and i’m embarrassed to admit i didn’t get my complain done on time. those filthy rotters at principal financial group had come out with a “guaranteed interest account” and i parked a bunch of money in mrs. smidlap’s 401k there. the company dwindled in size and closed the 401 and it turns out there was some b.s. penalty for liquidating those funds, like cashing a CD early thing. the long story short is they ought to have put up a dialogue box explaining the illiquid nature of that particular account type and i never would have chosen it. shame on my for not making the complaint as they kept a few thousand in early withdrawal fees. i think i had a legit complaint and would have won that money back. nice post, but now i’m hysterical over here.
Sorry to get you riled up Freddy. I had Principal waaay back in the early 90’s because they managed the 401k of the first company I worked with out of college. I was making such a small amount I never really accumulated much with them, maybe a grand. I rolled it over to Vanguard eventually
“I don’t know” is pretty freaking scary in my opinion. To me, the head in the sand approach is way more anxiety producing than knowing how big the problem is and facing it head on. Then again, I’ve never been in a place where I COULDN’T pay my debts, so that would be different I think, and just stressful no matter what.
Yeah, the head in the sand policy is really never good to fix any problems, but used often.
Actually, I don’t think the criteria the credit bureaus use to “score” you are kept secret. Scores are roughly based on FICO score and criteria.
Payment history: 35%
Amounts owed / Credit utilization: 30%
Length of credit history: 15%
New credit: 10%
Credit mix: 10%
I monitor my credit score and report on a regular basis (at least once a month). And the scores from each of the bureaus are always within 5 to 10 points from each other. It just depends on the lender / credit issuer (because some pull scores and data from 1 bureau while others may pull from 2 or all 3. It also depends on the date of inquiry for the credit report.
What I don’t get is how Equifax allowed the data breach. We are forced to entrust our data with these bureaus. A data breach is a breach of trust and should not happen.
I also don’t understand why all three credit bureaus are “for-profit” organizations. How do they make a profit? And at who’s expense? The consumer?
Would it be better to entrust the federal government with our credit data and not these credit bureaus? Not sure.
According to Money “Fair Isaac, the makers of the FICO score, is tight-lipped about exactly how the scores are calculated.” That’s what I’ve found in researching, it’s a bit of a mystery. I have not seen what you’ve indicated but am interested.
I fully agree about the data breach. Unfortunately our futures are destined to be full of many more of these I fear. I do not think it’s best to let the government do it however, but also agree that these guys profiting off me when I have no choice in the matter… it’s criminal.
Payday loans should be number one on this list and it shouldn’t even be close. My rationale? Even if they do exactly what someone agreed to, it’s still a scam and there should be a complaint filed. I’m feeling a strong sense of citizenship today, maybe we should start a movement for every person in America to file a complaint against that ridiculous industry and get rid of it once and for all.
They are a scam, and a shameful one. Where I grew up in Baltimore they’re on every corner.