Published: November 2022

Coalition supports CFPB plan to expand data gathered as part of complaint process

Consumer Action led allies in a comment to the Office of Management and Budget supporting the CFPB’s plan to expand the data gathered from consumers who file a complaint with the agency in an effort to better monitor, analyze and report on access to fair and affordable credit for underserved communities.

Consumer Action led allies in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget supporting the collection of additional consumer data in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) online complaint form. The groups believe that including language preference, sex and race will help the CFPB better monitor, analyze and report on access to fair and affordable credit for underserved communities. The signing organizations pointed out that that these optional questions should also be asked of consumers who complain by phone, as the availability of voice translation services means limited-English-speakers are more likely to complain by phone. At the same time, the CFPB complaint system should be expanded to enable in-language (particularly Spanish) complaints online. The groups further recommended that the data the Bureau collects on language preference, sex and race be shared with the public on a regular basis—at a minimum, in each year’s Consumer Response Annual Report, and be included in the CFPB’s publicly available Complaint Database. Finally, the signers encouraged the Bureau to not request household income (to avoid the risk that it could have a chilling effect on consumer participation in the complaint process); recommended that only partial Social Security Numbers (SSN) be requested for complaints, and only when absolutely necessary; suggested that consumers be given a way to encrypt their complaint containing sensitive information; and proposed that an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) be accepted for those with an SSN. 

Lead Organization

Consumer Action

More Information

Read the letter here.

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