CFPB Opens the Floor to Credit Card and Mortgage Complaints

As we wrote recently, consumers who have problems with their credit cards or mortgages can lodge their complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now, starting this month, homeowners with issues related to their mortgages and home equity loans are also able to file complaints with the bureau, and by next year anyone will be able to file complaints about any type of financial product, according to a recent press release.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report this week on the 5,000 complaints they received from consumers about their credit cards in the last three months. More than 3,100 of those complaints were resolved by the issuers, and 87 percent were resolved to customers’ satisfaction.

“When consumers contact us, we get a snapshot of how the consumer finance markets are working,” Raj Date, the bureau’s interim director said in a press release earlier this week.

For now, you can file a complaint about your credit card or mortgage by going on the CFPB’s site and filling out the forms. Common complaints include disputes over interest rates and billing, as well as unexpected fees.

Image: NYCArthur, via Flickr.com

This article was updated on Monday, December 5, 2011, to correct the date when the mortgage complaint form went live for public use.