You can now opt-in to share your complaint narrative with the public
of ConsumerAffairs
Feel the need to gripe publicly about your bank or credit card company?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is putting the finishing touches on a policy that will let you do just that.
“Consumer narratives shed light on the full consumer perspective behind a complaint,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Narratives humanize the problems consumers face in the marketplace.”
The new policy, he added. “will serve to empower consumers by helping them make informed decisions and helping track trends in the consumer financial market.”
Consumer complaint narrative policy
The CFPB’s final Consumer Complaint Narrative Policy lays out the specific procedures and safeguards being put in place to publish narratives in the database. When consumers submit a complaint to the bureau, they fill in information such as who they are, who the complaint is against, and when it occurred.
They are also given a text box to describe what happened and can attach documents to the complaint. The CFPB forwards the complaint to the company for response, gives the consumer a tracking number, and keeps the consumer updated on its status.
Under the new policy, when consumers submit a complaint to the CFPB, they will have the option to check a box and opt-in to sharing their narrative. In order for companies to learn about this new system, the any consented-to narrative will not be published for at least 90 days after the policy’s publication in the Federal Register.
Safeguards established
The policy establishes a number of important safeguards for a clear, fair, and transparent process, including:
- Consumers must opt-in to share their story: The CFPB will not publish the complaint narrative unless the consumer provides informed consent. This means that when consumers submit a complaint through consumerfinance.gov, they have to check a consent box to give the bureau permission to publish their narrative. Currently, only narratives submitted online are available for the opt-in to publish.
- Personal information will be removed from narratives: The bureau will take reasonable steps to remove personal information from the complaint to minimize the risk of re-identification. This means the CFPB will use a thorough process to ensure complaints are scrubbed of information such as names, telephone numbers, account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other direct identifiers.
- Companies can choose a response to publish: Companies will be given the option to select from a set list of structured response options as a public-facing response to address the consumer complaints. Companies will be under no obligation to offer a public response, and they have 180 days after the consumer complaint is routed to them to select the optional, public response. Companies will have the option to address all consumer complaints submitted after this policy announcement, not just those where a consumer consented to publication.
- Consumers can opt-out at any time: If a consumer decides at any time that he or she would like to withdraw consent to publish their narrative in the Consumer Complaint Database, he or she has the ability to do so.
- Complaints must meet certain criteria to qualify for narrative publication: In order for the bureau to share a consumer’s complaint narrative publicly, the complaint must meet certain requirements. These include that the complaint is submitted through the CFPB website, that the complaint is not a duplicate submission, and that the consumer has a confirmed relationship with the financial institution. Complaints will not be published if they do not meet all of the publication criteria.
- The new policy builds on the safeguards the CFPB’s database already has in place. Complaints are listed in the database only after the company responds to the complaint or after it has had the complaint for 15 days, whichever comes first.
- The CFPB will disclose the consumer narrative when the company provides its public-facing response, or after the company has had the complaint for 60 calendar days, whichever comes first.