The CFPB consumer complaint form is a free online tool at consumerfinance.gov/complaint that lets you report a problem with a bank, lender, credit bureau, debt collector, or other financial company directly to a federal regulator. Filing takes under ten minutes. The bureau forwards your submission to the company, which is generally expected to respond within 15 calendar days.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Complaint Program The process works best after you’ve already tried the company’s own customer service and gotten nowhere.
What the Form Covers
When you start a complaint, the portal asks you to pick a product category. The current options are checking or savings accounts; credit cards; credit reporting and other personal consumer reports; debt collection; debt or credit management services; money transfers, virtual currency, and money services; mortgages; payday, title, personal, and advance loans; prepaid cards; student loans; and vehicle loans or leases. After you choose one, the form narrows into sub-categories and specific issue types so the bureau can route your complaint accurately.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Complaint Form Product and Issue Options
If your problem doesn’t fit any of these, the CFPB may forward it to another government agency that handles it.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
What to Gather Before You Start
A few minutes of prep will keep you from stalling halfway through. Have the following ready:
- The company’s name. The form has a searchable list; if the company isn’t there, you’ll enter its full contact information manually.
- Your account or loan number for the specific product involved.
- Key dates and dollar amounts: when the problem happened, when you contacted the company, and the exact amounts in dispute.
- Your name, email, phone, and mailing address. The company uses your address to respond, so leaving it out means they can’t reply.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
- Supporting documents: statements showing the error, copies of letters or emails you sent, contracts, receipts. You can attach up to 50 pages total.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Filing for someone else, such as a parent, spouse, or a person you hold power of attorney for, means disclosing your relationship and attaching any signed written authorization the company requires before it will respond to a third party.
How to Fill Out and Submit the Complaint Online
Go to consumerfinance.gov/complaint and click to start a new complaint. The portal walks you through screens that begin with the product category and narrow into the specific issue. The narrative box is where your complaint lives or dies. Describe what happened in plain, chronological order: what went wrong, what you’ve already done to fix it, and exactly what you want the company to do. That might be refunding a fee, correcting a balance, updating a credit report entry, or something else specific to your situation.
Be factual. “They charged me a $35 late fee on March 12 even though my payment posted on March 10” is far more useful than “they keep charging unfair fees.” Hit the moments that show the company had a chance to fix the problem and didn’t. You don’t need to narrate every phone call.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Upload your documents before you confirm. A PDF of the actual statement or a screenshot of a payment confirmation carries more weight than restating the same facts in text. Once you confirm, the bureau assigns a unique complaint ID and emails you a confirmation. Include everything the first time. You generally cannot submit a second complaint about the same problem.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Filing by Phone or Mail
The online portal is fastest, but not the only option. You can call the CFPB at (855) 411-2372 to file over the phone. The line offers assistance in more than 180 languages, which makes it the better route if English isn’t your first language.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Contact Us You can also mail a written complaint to:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
PO Box 27170
Washington, DC 200384Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Contact Us
Mailed complaints take longer to process. Expect additional time before you receive a complaint ID and the company is notified.
What Happens After You Submit
The bureau routes your complaint, along with any documents you uploaded, directly to the company. If another agency is better positioned to help, the CFPB redirects the complaint there and lets you know.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Companies are expected to provide a complete, accurate, and timely response, generally within 15 calendar days.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Complaint Program If the issue is complex and the company needs more time, it notifies the bureau that its response is in progress and then has up to 60 calendar days to deliver a final answer.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Company’s Role in the Complaint Process
Once the company responds, the bureau emails you. Log into the consumer portal with your complaint ID to read the response. You then have 60 days to give feedback on whether it actually resolved your problem.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint That feedback helps the CFPB spot patterns of companies that routinely dodge legitimate complaints.
Whether Your Complaint Becomes Public
The CFPB publishes complaint data, stripped of information that directly identifies you, in its public Consumer Complaint Database. Basic details like the product type, issue, company name, and response status appear automatically once the company responds, confirms a commercial relationship, or 15 days pass, whichever comes first.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Complaint Database
Your written narrative is only published if you explicitly opt in. Before posting it, the bureau removes personal information like account numbers and addresses.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint Opting in adds public pressure and helps other consumers see whether a company has a track record of the same behavior.
What the CFPB Cannot Do for You
The complaint system has clear limits. The CFPB is not your lawyer. It does not represent individual consumers in court and does not provide legal advice. Its role is to forward your complaint, monitor the company’s response, and use complaint data to inform its broader regulatory work.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The bureau also cannot force a company to pay you a specific amount or resolve the dispute in your favor through the complaint process alone. When the CFPB does order companies to pay consumers, that happens through separate enforcement actions based on evidence of widespread violations, not through individual complaint outcomes.
If the company’s response doesn’t fix your problem, you still have options. Contact your state attorney general’s office, file a complaint with your state’s banking or financial regulator, or consult a consumer protection attorney about whether your situation warrants a private lawsuit. For smaller amounts, small claims court lets you sue without hiring a lawyer.