ALTA Urges CFPB to Improve Consumer Complaint Portal
February 3, 2015
ALTA submitted a letter on Feb. 2 to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) encouraging the bureau to modify the type of information that will be collected from companies for its consumer complaint database.
In December, the CFPB published a notice in the Federal Register indicating it is developing a form to allow companies to “proactively participate” in its online portal for viewing and responding to consumer complaints. According to the notice, the CFPB’s “Company Portal Boarding Form” will streamline the collection of information from companies seeking to register to use the company portal.
ALTA supports the goals of the consumer complaint database by enabling companies to resolve issues quickly and efficiently. However, the form requests a large amount of information from companies, which makes it difficult to join the portal. As an example, the form requires companies to submit the tax ID and state business licenses for every “subsidiary or affiliate” of the company. Some of these “subsidiaries or affiliates” may be outside of the purview of the bureau as many companies that would join the portal have “subsidiaries or affiliates” that are not involved in financial services.
“The Bureau should modify its Form to request information only about business activities that involve financial services to reduce the information requested by the Form and to make it easier for companies to comply with the Bureau’s information request,” ALTA said in the letter.
Additionally, ALTA wants the CFPB to clarify how it plans to review consumer complaints and detail how it plans to communicate with companies following the submission of a complaint.
Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.