Financial institutions are not happy about the CFPB's
announcement that it will begin posting the narratives of some
consumer complaints in June. When the CFPB first proposed the idea
last summer, banks and industry groups made several arguments
against public complaint posting: the content of the complaints is
unverified, complaints describe only negative – not positive
– customer experiences, and institutions cannot tell their
side of the story because they are required to protect their
customers' privacy.
The CFPB's policy, available here, acknowledges that privacy requirements
would prevent companies from providing narratives that meaningfully
respond to the customers' complaints. Therefore, the Bureau
will limit what companies can say in the public response by
providing a set list of company responses addressing the substance
of the consumers' complaints. The Bureau will also allow
companies to recommend additional public-facing responses.
