John,

The enormously successful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint database may soon be hidden from the public.

The CFPB recently threw out dozens of guidance documents that help interpret and implement consumer protection laws, including the agency's original plans to publicly disclose consumer complaints and narratives.1 This could signal the agency's intent to remove public access to the database entirely.

If the database disappears, consumers are less likely to get their problems resolved.

Take action today to urge the CFPB to keep the consumer complaint database public.

The database is an invaluable tool. It tracks complaints made by consumers to the CFPB and how they are resolved, helping the CFPB identify financial practices that threaten to harm us. It also helps the public to evaluate both the performance of the financial industry and of the CFPB.

Before the database was set up, consumers were largely at the mercy of company procedures for addressing complaints. Now, we have a place to reliably turn to for a timely response. Because complaints and responses on the database are made public, there is a 98% response rate from the companies involved.2

Across its lifetime, the CFPB has secured more than $21 billion in relief for consumers like you and me -- including returning billions to people harmed after it found that Wells Fargo had unlawfully misapplied payments, charged surprise fees, and even led to the wrongful loss of vehicles and homes for thousands of customers. The CFPB credited consumer complaints with helping to identify some of this illegal activity.3,4

Send a message urging the CFPB to maintain public access to the consumer complaint database.

We've been through this once before: In 2018, the Consumer Bureau announced that it was considering making the database private. Together, PIRG members and supporters sent thousands of messages to then-acting director Mick Mulvaney -- and we won.5 The database stayed public.

It's common sense that markets work better for consumers and companies when both sides have full information. Let's work together again to defend the public consumer complaint database, and ensure the CFPB can continue to perform its important mission.

Add your name today.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. "Interpretive Rules, Policy Statements, and Advisory Opinions; Withdrawal," Federal Register, May 12, 2025.
2. "Consumer Complaint Database," Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, last accessed May 23, 2025.
3. "The CFPB," Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, December 3, 2024.
4. "CFPB Orders Wells Fargo to Pay $3.7 Billion for Widespread Mismanagement of Auto Loans, Mortgages, and Deposit Accounts," Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, December 20, 2022.
5. "Good news for consumers: A big database of consumer complaints will stay public," PIRG, October 3, 2019.

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