Appearing in American Banker on Feb. 13, 2026, Kate Berry talks to April Kuehnhoff, senior attorney and Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent overhaul of its consumer complaint portal, with experts warning that the agency is adding “friction” to the complaint process to deter legitimate complaints.
“Now the CFPB is aggressively discouraging actual complaints from consumers at a time when complaints have really shot up in the past two years.”
April Kuehnhoff, senior attorney at NCLC.
Chi Chi Wu said the credit bureaus throw up obstacles to disputes and have a hard time distinguishing legitimate complaints from those it deems “suspicious,” even rejecting thousands of disputes based on insufficient review.
She thinks some people will be discouraged because the CFPB is now requiring that citizens attest to the truthfulness of any complaint and provide personal information so they can be identified.
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