CBA Launches the “Data Desk”

New Data-Heavy Blog Series Begins by Refocusing the Regulatory Lens Using the CFPB’s Complaint Database

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In new blog series launching today – CBA Data Desk –CBA’s Data Analysis team dives deeper on consumer financial policy analysis with a particular focus on data and economics.

CBA has long highlighted the importance of data-driven policy prioritization. When regulators appear to have deviated from their data, CBA has worked to correct the record (see: CBA’s Facts Matter blog series). In contrast, this new blog series aims to foster evidence-based policy discussions among policymakers, regulators, and their respective staff. 

In this first edition, CBA Policy Analyst James Mulholland discusses insights from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database. 

What’s Happening and Why It Matters

The CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database collects complaints about various financial products and services, including those provided by banks with over $10 billion in assets, which the Bureau then shares back with companies for a response. As the 2023 CFPB Annual Report explains, “the CFPB uses this information to monitor risk in financial markets, assess risk at companies, and prioritize agency action.”

CBA analyzed recent data from the past four years and highlights areas the number of consumer complaints may be larger or smaller than the reader may expect, given how the CFPB has prioritized its policymaking over the same time period.

Our analysis is not intended to downplay the work the CFPB has done over the past four years, but to shed light on some of the issues that may deserve greater attention. CBA research highlights consistent issues consumers are having and where better collaboration between the CFPB, industry, and others could have a meaningful impact.

Key Findings

As the full blog post explains:

• Complaints about credit reporting made up nearly 80 percent of all complaints since January 2020;

• Debt collection is the second highest product cited in the consumer complaint database since 2020 with most complaints tied to attempts to collect debt the consumer stated they did not owe;

• Complaints about late fees and overdraft fees made up less than a percent of overall complaints since the beginning of 2020; and

• Analysis of consumer narratives shows that fraud and scam issues are likely more widespread than the CFPB’s database initially shows, with many complaints not labeled as fraud or scams having an origin related to a fraud or scam issue.

Looking Ahead

In the future, the CBA Data Desk will more closely analyze the CFPB complaints data with a focus on fraud and scams including how the CFPB and industry can work together to improve reporting and more effectively fight fraud and scams.  

Dive Deeper

To read the full Data Desk post on the CFPB’s complaint database, click HERE.