CFPB Looks to Add Consumer Survey to Complaint Process

August 4, 2016

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has publishing a notice  in the Federal Register for a new information collection aimed at improving the complaint process for consumers and companies.

According to the notice, a Company Response Survey will replace the dispute option and allow consumers to offer both positive and negative feedback on their complaint experience. Narratives that are consented to and scrubbed of personal information will be eligible to be published on the consumer complaint database.

“Through this notice, we intend to give consumers the option to provide feedback on the company’s response to and handling of their complaints,” the bureau said. “The consumer would have the ability to rate the company’s handling of his or her complaint on a one-to-five scale and provide a narrative description in support of the rating. Consumer feedback will be shared with the company that responded to the complaint to inform its complaint handling and used to inform our work to supervise companies and monitor the market for consumer financial products and services.”

The survey builds on a public inquiry the CFPB issued last year seeking public input on ways to highlight consumers’ positive experiences with financial service providers.

The CFPB said that positive feedback about the company’s handling of the consumer’s complaint would be reflected by both high satisfaction scores and by the narrative in support of the score. Negative feedback about the company’s handling of the consumer’s complaint would offer new context and be more useful to companies.

The bureau is accepting comments on the proposal until Sept. 30. Comments may be submitted three ways:

  • Electronic: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
  • Mail: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office), 1700 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20552.Show citation box
  • Hand Delivery/Courier: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office), 1275 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20002.


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