Are You Facing a Problem With a Creditor?

From 2008-2011, I volunteered my time to work at various community events to help people navigate the Great Recession. It didn’t take long before I started to hear story after story of people feeling trapped by various financial products, such as loans with questionable terms and credit cards with due dates that were like moving targets, one miss and your interest rates jumped. At that time, the best I could offer was complaining to the creditor or better business bureau. Today, when people feel that a creditor has treated them unfairly, they can turn to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was birthed from the financial crisis in 2008 under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CFPB is unique in that it is the first government agency exclusively focused on protecting you from unfair and unlawful financial practices. One of the major features of the CFPB is the ability to get a third party involved in a dispute you may have with a creditor. If you have an issue with a creditor and feel like you are hitting a brick wall, you can take the following steps.

1. Submit Your Story: If you are angry but do not feel your issue warrants a formal complaint, consider submitting your story. Your story is published but does not include any sensitive information. This can serve as a warning to others that are thinking of using the same financial product and/or service.

2. Submit a Complaint: If you have an issue and feel like you are getting nowhere, consider filing a complaint. Once your complaint is submitted, you get an email along with updates as to the status of your complaint. Your complaint is then forwarded to the creditor in question and the creditor has 15 days to reply. You will be able to review the company’s response and you will have 60 days to provide feedback to the CPFB.

The CPFB has handled over 1 million complaints with 97% of the complaints getting a timely response. The CPFB enforcement has resulted in billions of dollars in compensation for consumers. So if you are facing a problem with a creditor, you now have an advocate that can help you.

 

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