CFPB Launches Expanded Database of Consumer Financial Complaints

The ""Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ (CFPB) went live Thursday with the nation's largest public database of federal consumer financial complaints.

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Thursday's launch expands the ""Consumer Complaint Database"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaintdatabase/ from about 19,000 credit card complaints to more than 90,000 complaints on mortgages, student loans, bank accounts and services, and other consumer loans.

The database also includes specialized sub-categories--for instance, reverse mortgages, conventional fixed mortgages, conventional adjustable mortgages, and home equity loans or lines of credit.

""By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services,"" said CFPB director Richard Cordray at a field hearing. ""The database is good for consumers and it is also good for honest businesses. We believe the marketplace of ideas can do great things with this data.""

The newly launched database allows users to easily track, sort, search, and download information on consumer complaints and company responses. Data is also available via application programming interface (API), allowing developers to build applications, conduct analyses, and perform research. The data can also be embedded on other websites and share through social media.

The live database updates daily, meaning more complaints will be added as CFPB handles them. In addition, when the bureau accepts consumer complaints about other financial products and services, they will be added as well.

CFPB also announced the publication of another report containing aggregate data and analysis of all the 130,000 complaints it has received up to March 1, 2013. This number is larger than the 90,000 complaints in the public database because it also includes those that have been referred to other regulatory agencies, found to be incomplete, are still being confirmed by the company, or are pending with the consumer or the bureau. That ""snapshot"" can be found at ""CFPB's website"":http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201303_cfpb_Snapshot-March-2013.pdf.