Editor’s Note: The federal databases are subject to the Data Quality Act. It is unlawful for the federal government disseminate inaccurate data. See, The CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database and the Data Quality Act. Also see the Proposed Recommendation to ACUS on Consumer Complaint Databases, here.
From: Bloomberg
A seemingly benign catalogue of consumer complaints is one of banks’ biggest gripes. Trump can fix that for them.
by Shahien Nasiripour***
Banks say the database is littered with unverified complaints that present an inaccurate picture of how they treat their customers. They’ve been pressing the consumer bureau to stop publishing complaint data and snippets of households’ detailed criticisms of their products and conduct. “Instead of fostering informed and responsible consumer choice, the bureau has become a purveyor of at best unverified, and potentially false, information,” the Consumer Bankers Association and American Bankers Association wrote in September in a joint letter to the consumer bureau.
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No other federal financial regulator maintains a public collection of consumer complaints. The Federal Trade Commission, which oversees some parts of the financial industry, comes close, but its database is available only to law enforcement. “Unlike other financial regulators, consumer complaints are at least part of the driving force behind CFPB policy,” said Isaac Boltansky, an analyst in Washington with Compass Point Research & Trading.