Published: June 2018

Groups tell temporary CFPB director: Hands off the public database!

71 consumer, civil rights, fair lending, privacy, legal services and community groups called on Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to maintain one of the few tools consumers have to check out a financial services company: the CFPB's consumer complaint database. Mulvaney has threatened to ban public access to the public database.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) put out a Request for Information asking for public input on its consumer inquiry and complaint database. This move has advocates worried that CFPB Director Mulvaney, in his mission to weaken the agency, wants to block public access to the database, or, worse, shut it down all together. As it stands now, consumers can submit complaints to the CFPB on its website, by telephone, mail, fax or email. The CFPB then publishes those complaints, including consumer narratives detailing their complaint, in a public database, where other consumers can read them, as well as see if they have been resolved.

Advocates spelled out how the CFPB is both required by law and compelled by continued good consumer protection practices to provide individuals with a process to report ongoing financial disputes and evaluate financial companies before doing business with them via its complaint database. The Bureau’s public database–with first-hand details of consumers’ financial complaints–provides a highly valuable tool for consumers who want to prevent problems, identify harmful business practices, and learn whether a company has a good record of resolving complaints.

Lead Organization

Consumer Action

Other Organizations

Alaska Public Interest Research Group | Allied Progress | American Federation of Teachers | Americans for Financial Reform | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development | Atlanta Legal Aid Society Inc. | California Reinvestment Coalition | CALPIRG | Center for Digital Democracy | Center for NYC Neighborhoods Center for Responsible Lending | Community Legal Services of Philadelphia | Connecticut Fair Housing Center | ConnPIRG | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America | Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety | COPIRG | Demos | Florida PIRG | Generation Progress | Georgia PIRG | Georgia Watch | Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights | Higher Ed, Not Debt | Howard Country Office of Consumer Protection | Illinois PIRG | Indiana Institute for Working Families | Indiana PIRG | Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility | Iowa PIRG | Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia | Main Street Alliance | Maryland PIRG | MASSPIRG | Missouri PIRG | Montana Organizing Project | NAACP | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development | National Community Reinvestment Coalition | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients) | National Consumers League | National Fair Housing Alliance | National Housing Resource Center | National Urban League | New York Legal Assistance Group | New Yorkers for Responsible Lending | NJPIRG | NMPIRG | Ohio PIRG | Oregon PIRG | PennPIRG | PIRG in Michigan | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Privacy Times | Public Citizen | Public Justice Center | Public Law Center | RIPIRG | Student Debt Crisis | Tennessee Citizen Action | The Institute for College Access & Success | TexPIRG | Tzedek DC | UnidosUS | U.S. PIRG | WASHPIRG | WISPIRG | Woodstock Institute | World Privacy Forum

More Information

Click here to read the coalition letter.

For more information, please visit Consumer Action's website.

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