Mortgage lenders will be compelled to put a stronger emphasis on customer satisfaction now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has expanded its Consumer Complaint Database to include state-by-state information.
In addition, the CFPB has added complaints about money transfers and credit reporting to the database.
What's more, the government agency is planning to implement debt collection complaints as ealy as July.
‘This data puts valuable information in the hands of consumers to help them understand what is happening in their states,’ said CFPB Director Richard Cordray, in a release. ‘And by adding credit reporting and money transfer complaints to the Consumer Complaint Database, we are making these important markets more transparent and accountable to all consumers.’
The database allows users to track, sort, search and download consumer complaints on a variety of financial products including credit cards, mortgages, student loans, bank accounts and services, and other consumer loans, like auto loans.
The CFPB will investigate the complaints and should compliancy violations be uncovered, the offending institution will be required to take corrective action and/or penalized.
The database, which is updated nightly, has been growing rapidly since its establishment and currently contains about 113,000 complaints, about 90,000 of which are related to credit cards, the CFPB reports.
In tandem with ACA International, the CFPB is encouraging debt collection agencies to sign up for the complaint resolution and is anticipated to start taking debt collection complaints in mid-July.
The database allows the public to see what consumers complained about and why. It includes the type of complaint, the date of submission, and the company that the complaint concerns.
Currently the top states for mortgage complaints are 1) New Hampshire, 2) Maryland, 3) the District of Columbia, 4) Georgia, and 5) Florida.
