On November 29, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its monthly complaint report. For the month of October 2016, the products and services generating the most complaints were debt collection, credit reporting, and mortgages, collectively representing about 65 percent of complaints.

In a year-to-year comparison covering the three-month time period between August and October in 2015 and 2016, student loans showed a marked increase in complaints ‒ 108 percent ‒ the greatest percentage increase in complaints of any product or service. During the same period, complaints about prepaid products, payday loans, and mortgages declined by 51 percent, 22 percent, and six percent respectively. Interestingly, the three product categories showing the greatest percentage decline in complaints have been, and continue to be, the focus of CFPB rulemaking initiatives.

The report focused on complaints about debt settlement, credit repair, check cashing, refund anticipation checks, and money orders. The CFPB categorizes these types of complaints as “other financial service complaints.”

Regarding these other financial service complaints, the CFPB found that debt settlement is the service that generates the most complaints, constituting 50 percent of other financial service complaints. Credit repair and check cashing services each constituted 12 percent of other financial service complaints.

The most common issues raised by consumers involved fraud or scam (51 percent) and customer service or customer relations (18 percent). Consistent with the increase in student loan complaints, the CFPB noted that complaints about fraud or scam often involved consumers who sought to settle or consolidate their existing student loan debts.

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David Stein advises clients on credit reporting, financial privacy, financial technology, payments, retail financial services, and fair lending issues. He assists a broad range of financial services firms, consumer reporting agencies, financial technology companies, and their vendors with regulatory, compliance, supervision, enforcement, and…

David Stein advises clients on credit reporting, financial privacy, financial technology, payments, retail financial services, and fair lending issues. He assists a broad range of financial services firms, consumer reporting agencies, financial technology companies, and their vendors with regulatory, compliance, supervision, enforcement, and transactional matters.

Mr. Stein has significant experience advising clients on compliance with the FCRA, GLBA, ECOA, EFTA, E-Sign Act, TILA, TISA, FDCPA, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and FTC Act, as well as state financial privacy laws. Mr. Stein is a member of the firm’s fintech and artificial intelligence initiatives and works with clients on issues related to cutting edge technologies, such as blockchain, virtual currencies, big data and data analytics, artificial intelligence, online lending, and payments technology.

Mr. Stein previously served in senior regulatory, policy-making, and management positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). He played a significant role in developing regulations and policy on credit reporting, financial privacy, retail payments systems, consumer credit, fair lending, overdraft services, debit interchange, unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and mortgage origination and servicing. Mr. Stein draws upon his government experience in representing clients before the CFPB, the FRB, and other regulatory agencies and leverages his insights into the regulatory process to provide clients with practical, actionable advice.