CFPB Complaint Report: Prepaid, Money Transfers Less than 2% and 1% of Consumer Complaints (Jan. 12, 2016)
The CFPB recently released its November complaint report or “snapshot” of consumer complaints it received through its Website for the three months between September 2014 and November 2015.
Complaints related to prepaid cards in the latest report averaged 442 compared with 140 during the same three-month period a year earlier for an increase of 215 percent. The prepaid complaints tallied for the CFPB’s latest report represent less than 2 percent of consumer complaints filed. Though the 215 percent increase might seem alarming, the prepaid card category’s numbers likely are skewed by fallout from RushCard, which experienced a temporary service disruption during a technology conversion in October. Although the company’s systems were restored a few days later and RushCard pledged to reimburse RushCard customers who experienced financial losses as a result of the glitch, the CFPB took to social media, encouraging consumers to file complaints specifically related to the disruption.
In this month’s report, CFPB highlights complaints about money transfers; however, debt collection and mortgages were the two most complained about financial products, representing nearly 50 percent combined of the 22,612 complaints submitted. “Through rules on international money transfers and continued supervision of this important financial service, the bureau is working to make sure that consumers can easily send money without having to worry about delays or hidden fees,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. During the three-month average of complaints from September 2015 to November 2015, money transfer services received 207 complaints, compared with an average of 139 during the same three months in 2014. The 207 complaints represented less than 1 percent of all complaints filed.
Consumer finance products whose percentage of complaints decreased, include payday loans and student loans with decreases of 14 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
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