The CFPB is Pretty Busy With Actual Consumers

June 28, 2015 | By: Sean Murray

cfpb It’s often theorized by industry insiders that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will play a role in business to business transactions. But when you actually talk to those employed by the government agency, it seems very unlikely. The CFPB is already very busy playing the role of Better Business Bureau, albeit a nationalized version.

There is currently no categorical option to report business loan or merchant cash advances on their website and the complaints lodged by consumers pertain to very basic consumer problems, such as issues with their credit cards or student loans.

Here’s an example of a CFPB complaint:

2009 XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX Thursday of every month I got pulled from class to get a new loan for my living and tuition expenses. I was at XXXX for one year and if I didn’t go to sign the papers for my new loan every month I wouldn’t be able to continue my classes to XXXX. I missed out on important class information and had to make them up on my own time. Homework and other hands on tasks became more difficult to accomplish if I didn’t make up the lost time going to sign loan papers. I was told a rough amount that my school loan would be. About {$15000.00}. I started paying {$120.00} a month for my loan agreement then Genesis Lending increased it to {$190.00}. I called to ask why the increase in payment amount each month. I was told they saw i had a higher income so they adjusted the payment accordingly. Is that legal? I’ve been paying this amount for 6 years and still owe {$13000.00}. I called Genesis Lending and come to find out they have been rolling over all the interest I pay on the loan every year. So all I’m paying is interest basically for the last 6 years. I don’t think I ‘m being treated fairly or legally.

Many complaints are just like this, where consumers are not actually reporting illegal activity but instead using the CFPB to vent their frustration. In this situation, the victim was busy with homework and wasn’t sure how their student loan worked so they filed a complaint with the federal government…

The end result was that the lender responded by saying it wasn’t really their problem, the borrower didn’t dispute this response and the CFPB marked the case as closed. Seems like a great use of everybody’s time.

In the handful of presentations I’ve attended by the CFPB, they said they often find themselves redirecting complaints to the business that the consumer is complaining about much like the BBB would do.

You can view the full complaint database here

Last modified: June 28, 2015