The CFPB has issued its November 2015 complaint report, the fifth in its new series of monthly complaint reports.  The new report highlights bank account or service complaints and complaints from consumers in Connecticut and the Hartford metro area.

General findings include the following:

  • As of November 1, 2015, the CFPB handled approximately 749,000 complaints nationally, including approximately 23,300 complaints in October 2015.  For October 2015, debt collection continued to be the most complained-about financial product or service, representing about 28 percent of complaints submitted.  (The CFPB stated that this was the 26th consecutive month in which it handled more complaints about debt collection than about any other type of complaint.)  Debt collection complaints, together with complaints about credit reporting and mortgages, collectively represented about 66 percent of the complaints submitted in October 2015.
  • Complaints about prepaid cards showed the greatest percentage increase, increasing about 193 percent from the same time last year (August to October 2014 compared with August to October 2015).  (In its Fall 2015 rulemaking agenda, the CFPB estimated that it expects to issue a final prepaid card rule in March 2016.)
  • Payday loan complaints showed the greatest percentage decrease, decreasing 20 percent from the same time last year (August to October 2014 compared with August to October 2015).  Complaints during those periods decreased from 589 complaints in 2014 to 469 complaints in 2015.  (Payday loan complaints also showed the greatest percentage decrease in the October 2015 complaint report.)
  • Idaho, Nebraska and Arkansas experienced the greatest complaint volume increases from the same time last year (August to October 2014 compared with August to October 2015).  The volume of complaints from Idaho, Nebraska and Arkansas increased by, respectively, 66, 41 and 42 percent.  The states with the greatest complaint volume decreases from the same time last year (August to October 2014 compared with August to October 2015) were Delaware, Alaska and Florida , with decreases of, respectively, 5, 12 and 1 percent.

Findings regarding bank account and services complaints include the following:

  • As of October 1, 2015, the CFPB handled approximately 73,300 bank account and service complaints, representing about 10 percent of total complaints.
  • Problems with account management (such as issues relating to opening and closing  accounts and dispute resolution) and problems with deposits and withdrawals (such as issues relating to restricted access to funds, fund holds, and deposit cutoff times) were the most common complaints.
  • Other issues raised in complaints included difficulty in avoiding fees, such as monthly account management fees due to low balances, debit card replacement fees, check cashing, overdraft fees, excessive withdrawal fees, dormant account fees and ATM withdrawal fees.

Findings regarding complaints from consumers in Connecticut and the Hartford metro area include the following:

  • As of October 1, 2015, approximately 8,300 complaints were submitted by Connecticut consumers, of which about 2,500 were from Hartford consumers.
  • Mortgages were the most-complained-about product, with mortgage-related complaints representing 28 percent of the complaints submitted by Connecticut consumers.
  • Debt collection and credit cards were, respectively, the second and third most-complained-about financial products by Connecticut consumers.