Minority counties submitted more consumer complaints

(April 30, 2021) More complaints – particularly about credit or consumer reporting — were received in 2019 and 2020, on a per capita basis, from consumers living in predominantly minority counties than from consumers in predominantly white, non-Hispanic counties, the CFPB said this week in its April 2021 Complaint Bulletin.

Additionally, the bureau said, those consumers living in counties with the highest minority percentages submitted complaints at more than four times the rate compared to counties with the lowest percentage of minority populations.

Credit or consumer reporting appears to cause significantly more issues for consumers in predominantly minority counties, the bureau said, and added that consumers living in predominantly minority counties submitted more complaints on a per capita basis in nearly every one of the 11 product categories about which the agency accepts complaints.

The agency also gave some insights to future reporting: it said it will soon expand its demographic collection to include household size and income. That will include, CFPB said, enhancing the agency complaint form to give consumers the option to provide household size and household income when submitting a complaint.

Any additional information the bureau may need to help better understand the experiences of diverse communities that submit complaints will also be explored in the future, CFPB said.

LINK:
CFPB April 2021 Complaint Bulletin