On July 21, 2025, the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) submitted comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) concerning the consumer complaint portal. The focus was on the onboarding form that companies use to access the portal, but AFSA also provided broader feedback on the system.
AFSA highlighted that some elements requested from companies in the onboarding form seem unnecessary for providing creditors with access to the complaint portal. They urged the CFPB to review and limit the information requested to what is essential.
Regarding the complaint portal itself, AFSA reiterated its longstanding concerns about its functionality. They noted a lack of effective quality control to ensure submissions are genuine complaints from real customers. The portal has also become a venue for filing credit reporting disputes, despite existing laws and regulations providing specific mechanisms for such disputes. AFSA criticized the practice of publishing complaint narratives as unnecessary under law and potentially harmful. They believe these issues contribute to unreliable information being delivered by the complaint portal.
In their letter, AFSA suggested several steps for improving submission accuracy on the CFPB complaint portal. They believe that implementing vetting and quality control measures would enable creditors to respond more effectively and promptly to consumer complaints.