What Is the CFPB Complaint Database (And Why You Should Check It)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) maintains one of the most valuable — and underused — public databases in the United States: the Consumer Complaint Database.

What Is It?

Since 2011, the CFPB has collected complaints from consumers about financial products and services. These complaints are submitted directly by consumers and then forwarded to the company for a response. The database is fully searchable and updated daily.

As of 2026, it contains over 4 million complaints covering banks, lenders, credit bureaus, debt collectors, money transfer services, and more.

What Can You Search For?

You can search by:

Company name — see all complaints filed against a specific business
Product type — mortgages, credit cards, student loans, etc.
Issue — billing disputes, fraud, debt collection harassment
State — filter by geography
Date range — recent complaints vs. historical patterns

Why Should You Check It?

Before doing business with a financial company — whether it's a lender, a credit repair service, or even a fintech app — the CFPB database gives you a window into how that company treats its customers.

Key things to look for:

Complaint volume — Is the number of complaints proportional to the company's size?
Response rate — Does the company respond to complaints, or ignore them?
Common themes — Are customers consistently reporting the same issue?
Timeliness — Does the company resolve complaints quickly?

What It Doesn't Tell You

The CFPB database has limitations:

Complaints are self-reported by consumers and aren't verified for accuracy
A high complaint count for a large bank (like Chase or Bank of America) doesn't necessarily mean worse service — they simply have more customers
Not all industries are covered — the CFPB focuses on financial products

How Vett.us Uses CFPB Data

When you order a Vett.us report, we automatically search the CFPB complaint database for the business in question. The results are included in your report alongside court records, reviews, news, and license data — giving you a broader picture.

Our Sentinel AI factors complaint volume and severity into the overall grade (A through F), so you don't have to interpret the raw data yourself.