THE COMPANYCENTRIC CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU CFPB CONSUMER
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS IS THE GREATEST CONSUMER PROTECTION FRAUD IN HISTORY! THE CURRENT CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS IS THE PERSONIFICATION OF “ THE INFAMOUS WIZARD OF OZ COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION” WHERE THE COMPANY ALWAYS WINS AND THE CFPB TAKES CREDIT FOR A SUCCESSFUL CONSUMER COMPLAINT RESOLUTION BY APPLYING IT’S “ KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” RESPONSE TO ALL OF “THE COMPANY’S” MILLIONS OF CFPB COMPLAINT RESPONSES. “THE COMPANY” “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL COMPANY” IS SOLE THE JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE OF ALL CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS! CFPB Complaint Data, Archived Complaints, Canned Responses, and CFPB Complaint Database. WHEN “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL COMPANY” ARBITRATES CFPB COMPLAINTS, IT WINS 85% TO 95% OF ALL COMPLAINTS! CFPB ALWAYS APPROVED THE COMPANY ADJUDICATIONS; AND, THERE IS NO REVIEW OR DISPUTE OF THE COMPANY’S BIASED ARBITRATION DECISIONS. “THE CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL CARRIES THE ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY OF THE ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. ” ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED BY THE CFPB ARE CLOSED BY THE COMPANY, WITH THE “CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” ENSURING THAT CONSUMERS CAN DISPUTE THE COMPLAINT, AND CAN NEVER RE-FILE THE SAME COMPLAINT WITH CFPB, OR WITH “FOLLOW THE YELLOW-BRICK COMPANY PORTAL”. BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020, MORE THAN ONE MILLION CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WERE SENT TO “THE COMPANY” VIA CFPB’S INSIDIOUS COMPANY PORTAL. 1
CFPB CLAIMS TO “HAVE HANDLED” MORE THAN TWO MILLION CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, BUT IT PLAYS “NO ROLE” IN THE ACTUAL ARBITRATION OF ANY THESE OF COMPLAINTS; ITS ONLY FUNCTIONS IS TO AFFIRM THE COMPANY’S BIASED ARBITRATION RESPONSES WITH IT’S “KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” AND THEN PERMENTANTLY CLOSE COMPLAINTS. THE TRUTH REGARDING THE SUCCESSFUL ARBITRATIONS CLAIMED BY THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. (“THE COMPANY” IS THE JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLETE OF ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS RECEIVED FROM CFPB!) 1. The Flawed, “Company-Centric” CFPB Complaint Process claims to have handled more than 2 -million Consumer Complaints; but 2. 3. 4. 5. does not include monthly, yearly, or aggregate CFPB analytical and/or performance reports delineating “final disposition” of: q Complaints Closed by “The Company” with no Public Explanation. q Complaints Closed by “The Company” with Explanations Sent to Consumer. q Complaints Closed by “The Company” with Monetary Relief. q Complaints Closed by “The Company” with Non-Monetary Relief. q Complaints Referred to other Federal or State Consumer Protection/Enforcement Agencies. The “Self-Proclaimed Government” CFPB Complaint Database, was Designed and Developed by Two Of The Industry’s Pre-eminent CRM Vendors: General Dynamics, Inc. and SALESFORCE, but it does not include: q Company Public Responses to Complaint that can be “shared” with CFPB and other Federal Agencies. q List of Complaint Consumer Documents sent to the Company or Placed on the Company Portal. q Percentage of Complaints Referred to other Federal Agencies for each Product and Issue Category. q List of Companies that “Blatantly Refused to Respond” to any CFPB Consumer Complaints. q Complaint Descriptions and/or Complaint Narratives Sent to The Company. q Summary of Consumer Complaints by Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Age. q Geographical Origin of CFPB Consumer Complaints by Input Source: Email, Phone, Fax, Postal Mail, Referring Federal or State Agency, and Web. q Final Resolution of the 145, 150 complaints disputed by consumers from 2012 to 2017 that CFPB promised to review that were closed with no further review or investigation. q Final Resolution of 23, 000 Consumer Complaints Referred to Other Federal and State Consumer Complaint/Protection Agencies from 2002 to 2017. q Performance Rating of the CFPB Complaint Process by Consumers. Complaints Database does not include geographical location information such as City or MSA/MD, that would help CFPB detect, identify; and if Necessary, request investigative action by local or federal fraud investigators. CFPB Complaint Database should be segmented on an annual basis to Investigative Web-Doc Created by: James H. Barnes improve its performance, manageability and archival management. Date of last Revision: February 26, 2021 CFPB has never defined and published consumer complaint arbitration World Wide Web Address: http: //www. diy-carp. com rules and procedures that MUST be followed by “The Company”. 2
FINANCIALLY-ORIENTED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS RECEIVED FROM OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE CLOSED WITH THE “CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” AND/OR CONCURRANCE OF THE REFERRING GOVERNMENT AGENCY. From 2012 to 2021, the tens of thousands of financially-oriented complaints were received by other federal agencies were referred to CFPB for adjudication but “The Company’s” arbitration responses to these complaints were only sent to the CFPB, and these referring agencies never received the company’s response to these consumer complaints; and thus, had no awareness that CFPB was not actively involved in this complaint arbitration process. OCC Consumer Assistance Group DOJ Housing and Civil Enforcement Section DOJ Civil Rights Division FTC Complaint Assistant CFPB Consumer Complaint Process and Database HUD Housing Enforcement Division “THE COMPANY” Complaint Response “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL COMPANY” IS SOLE THE JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE OF ALL CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS! 3
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. ”THE CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” OF THE COMPANY’S ADJUDICATION RESPONSE CARRIES THE “FULL WEIGHT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Consumer complaints filed by CFPB are adjudicated solely by The Company, and the minor role that CFPB fulfills is to follow The Company’s instructions regarding closing complaints by applying The “CFPB Kiss of Death Approval” to The Company’s COMPLAINT arbitration. This “Kiss of Death Approval” has the full weight of the Federal Government, and thus, it assures that a closed CFPB Consumer Complaint can never be re-filed against “The Company” by CFPB or any other Federal Government Agency. Additionally, private and class-action attorneys will be reluctant to pursue legal action in the courts because of the legal precedent of this federal government’s approval of The Company adjudication of the original consumer complaint. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE; AND ESPECIALLY, THE “ALL-SEEING, ALL-KNOWING COMPANY PORTAL PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! CFPB’S “ALL-SEEING, ALL-KNOWING COMPANY PORTAL” IS PROVIDED TO THE COMPANY AT NO COST AND INCLUDES CRM-TYPE APPLICATIONS AND CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATA THAT GREATLY SIMPLIFIES AND FACILITATE THE RESOLUTION OF CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. THIS WEB-BASED APPLICATION ALSO INCLUDES A “ONE-BUTTON” COMPLAINT RESPONSE APPLET THAT SELECT, A. ) THE APPROPRIATE COMPLAINT CLOSED RESPONSE, AND B. ) THE OPTIONAL PUBLIC RESPONSE TO BE ADDED TO THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. THERE ARE NO PUBLIC SPECIFICATION DESCRIBING THE OPERATION OF THE COMPANY PORTAL, AND IT IS A CLOSELY THE CONSUMER-RELATED INFORMATION PLACED ON THIS WEB-BASED INTERFACE BETWEEN CFPB AND “THE COMPANY” TIGHTLY-GUARDEDSECRET, NOT SHARED WITH CONSUMERS OR OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES. COMPANY PORTAL DESIGN VERSUS COMPANY PORTAL IMPLEMENTATION. The initial conceptional design of the Company Portal was excellent because it provided an electronic conduit that would eliminate manual activities involving in: a. ) sending complaints from CFPB to “The Company”, and b. ) receiving “The Company” responses to these complaints. However, the current implementation of this Web-based App exceeds these necessary “electronic conduit” requirements and includes enhanced, valueadded functionality that exceeds the initial conceptional portal design. For example, the current implementation of the Company Portal automated many of “The Company’s” arbitration compliant review/investigation functions; because it includes an archive of how all previous complaints from this consumer, and other consumers who filed similar complaints, were adjudicated. It also a “one-button” option for sending “Closed and/or Public Responses to CFPB”. However, the 2015 -2017 version of “The Company Portal” did not include provisions for resolving consumer disputes; thus, between 2015 and 2017, CFPB chose not to place any of the 145, 150 compliant disputes filed by consumers on the “all-seeing, all-knowing” Company Portal. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 5
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS IS NOW IN ITS EIGHTH YEAR OF OPERATION AND IS WITHOUT A DOUBT “THE GREATEST CONSUMER PROTECTION FACADE EVER PERPURTRATED UPON THE AMERICAN CONSUMER!” UNFORTUNATELY, THIS FAÇADE EXTENDS FAR BEYOND THE CFPB ORGANIZATION BECAUSE IT EMPOWERED (AND ENCOURAGED) OTHER FEDERAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT/CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCIES TO “BLINDLY” REFER CONSUMER COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY THEIR AGENCY INTO THE CFPB ABYSS, FOR MORE THAN EIGHT YEARS. “THE CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL” OF THE COMPANY’S ADJUDICATION RESPONSE CARRIES THE “FULL” WEIGHT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Consumer complaints filed by CFPB are adjudicated solely by The Company, and the minor role that CFPB fulfills is to follow The Company’s instructions regarding closing complaints by applying “The CFPB “Kiss of Death Approval” to The Company’s Complaint arbitration. This “Kiss of Death Approval” has the full weight of the Federal Government, and thus, it assures that a closed CFPB Consumer Complaint can never be re-filed against “The Company” by CFPB or any other Federal Government Agency. Additionally, private and classaction attorneys will be reluctant to pursue legal action in “the courts” because of the legal precedent of this federal government’s approval of The Company adjudication of the original consumer complaint. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS THAT ARE BENEFICIAL TO THE COMPANY RATHER THAN THE CONSUMER. DESCRIPTION OF CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE DESIGN-CHANGES WHICH WILL ELIMINATE THE FUNDAMENTAL DATABASE DESIGN FLAWS IN CURRENT CFPB DATABASE: 1. The CFPB Database is a single, monolithic data file that contains all consumer complaints from 2011 through the current date. (Consumer complaints contained in this data file are not segmented and archived on an annual basis, such as is done with the government's HMDA database. ) 2. The current CFPB Database database with more than two million consumer complaints records, exceeding the Microsoft Excel limitation of 1, 048. 576 records per Spreadsheet. This makes it impossible for consumers to download this database into one single Excel Spreadsheet. (Complex Excel analysis solutions, such as Data Modelling, can be used to circumvent this spreadsheet limitation, but these techniques are far beyond the capabilities of the average consumer. ) 3. In 2015, the CFPB Database design was modified to accommodate variable length narratives, ranging from a hundred characters or less up to a thousand characters or more. Design flaws with complaint narratives include: q There is no published definition of the function and purpose of complaint narratives and the role they play in The Company’s complaint adjudication process. q The option of including narratives are only available for consumer complaints received via the web; even though, consumer complaints received from other government agencies frequently include complaint description identically to narratives. q Complaint narratives are currently embedded in the middle of CFPB database records, thus adding unnecessary complexities to traditional database optimization, reorganization, and compacting processes. (Additionally, there is no CFPB directives regarding the role narratives play in The Company’s complaint arbitration process. ) 4. The date upon which an alleged-Complaint occurred should be included in the revised CFPB Complaint Database. (This will allow CFPB and other federal government agencies to determine if a particular complaint is an isolated occurrence or is part of a larger cluster of complaints of the same type. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 7
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS THAT ARE BENEFICIAL TO THE COMPANY RATHER THAN THE CONSUMER. (Continued) DESCRIPTION OF CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE DESIGN-CHANGES WHICH WILL ELIMINATE THE FUNDAMENTAL DATABASE DESIGN FLAWS IN CURRENT CFPB DATABASE: 5. There is no description of the Company Portal and the role that it plays in the consumer complaint arbitration process. (Additionally, how consumer complaints are forwarded to companies that choose not to install the Company Portal and opt to used Email, fax, postal, or express mail rather than the portal. ) 6. There is no description of the type of consumer complaint data that is being placed on the Company Portal and how complaint data placed on the portal helps the company 7. The Company Public Response field is meant to be used in combination with the “Complaint Closed with Explanation” response to provide consumers with information regarding how complaints they are submitting to CFPB have been adjudicated by the company. However, because it is either left blank and/or not publicly-shared “ 94. 24% of the time”, its current implementation is “literally and figuratively worthless”; Thus, this field should be re-named Company Adjudication Response Explanation, and the current option for The Company to leave this field blank, should be removed. 8. The current CFPB Database only includes a single field for the identification of “The Company, ” when in reality, large financial services companies and National Banks have several, and possibly dozens, of autonomous business units with their own Complaint adjudication structure; thus, the recommendation is to add a second optional field that would be used to specify the “business unit” within the parent company shown in “The Company” field. 9. In many instances, State and Zip codes are insufficient to define the geographic location of consumers. A field to accommodate the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) or Metropolitan Divisions (MD) in which the consumer resides should be added to the CFPB Complaint Database. (FFIEC includes a simple utility Geolocation utility that calculates the MSA/MD from any street address, State, and zip code. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 8
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! RECOMMENDED CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE DESIGN-CHANGES TO ELIMINATE THE INCONGRUENT DATABASE DESIGN FLAWS IN CURRENT CFPB DATABASE. (Continued) THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS THAT ARE BENEFICIAL TO THE COMPANY RATHER THAN THE CONSUMER. 10. The only consumer Demographics included in the CFPB Complaint Database are, a. ) Older Americans, b. ) Servicemembers, and c. ) Older Servicemembers, and there is no evidence whether these TAGS are used by “The Company” during the adjudication process. Unfortunately, discriminatory complaints comprise a large percentage of all complaints filed via the CFPB Complaint Process; yet there is no way to quantify and analyze this fact because of flaws in the current CFPB complaint database design. Eliminating the current ”TAG” field in the CFPB Database and replacing it with demographic categories such as race, ethnicity, age, and gender would provide a wealth of valuable information that could be used by CFPB, other federal and state agencies; and the American consumers. 11. Currently, more than seventeen percent of all complaints received by CFPB are received from other federal and state agencies; however, the agencies from which these complaints are received is not captured in the CFPB Complaint Database. (A field should be added to the CFPB Database to capture the name of the agency from which these referred complaints are received. ) 12) A significant number of CFPB consumer complaints cannot be resolved within the CFPB Complaint Process, and thus, are referred to other federal (or state) agencies. Currently, the agencies to whom these complaints are referred are not captured in the CFPB Complaint Database. (Fields to capture the names of these agencies, and the dates upon which these complaints were referred, would provide immeasurable benefits to the CFPB and other federal regulatory agencies. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 9
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE CREATION OF CFPB. THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), ESTABLISHED UNDER DODD-FRANK, WAS GIVEN THE JOB OF PREVENTING PREDATORY MORTGAGE LENDING (REFLECTING THE WIDESPREAD SENTIMENT THAT THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE MARKET WAS THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE 2008 CATASTROPHE) AND MAKE IT EASIER FOR CONSUMERS TO UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF A MORTGAGE BEFORE AGREEING TO THEM. IT DETERS MORTGAGE BROKERS FROM EARNING HIGHER COMMISSIONS FOR CLOSING LOANS WITH HIGHER FEES AND/OR HIGHER INTEREST RATES AND REQUIRES THAT MORTGAGE ORIGINATORS NOT STEER POTENTIAL BORROWERS TO THE LOAN THAT WILL RESULT IN THE HIGHEST PAYMENT FOR THE “DRIVING FORCE” BEHIND THE CREATION OF CFPB WAS TO ENSURE THAT ORIGINATOR. CONSUMERS WERE PROTECTED FROM PREDATORY MORTGAGE LENDERS; HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF DESIGN FLAWS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE THERE IS NO WAY TO DETERMINE IF CFPB HAS EVER TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST “ANY COMPANY ACCUSED OF PREDATORY LENDING OR MORTGAGE FRAUD CRIMES. ”
FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) IN 2010, IT WAS A DIRECT RESPONSE TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 2008 AND WAS INTENDED TO PREVENT A REOCCURANCE OF THIS NEAR CATACLYSMIC COLLAPSE OF THE ENTIRE US ECONOMIC STRUCTURE. CFPB WAS TO BE THE US GOVERNMENT AGENCY TASKED WITH ENSURING THAT BANKS, LENDERS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES TREAT CONSUMER FAIRLY BY PROVIDING GREATER PROTECTION AND ESTABLISHING EQUAL RIGHTS TO CONSUMERS OF FINANCIAL PRODUCTS. UNFORTUNATELY, THE CFPB THAT EXIST TODAY IS A COMPANY-CENTRIC PROCESS THAT HAS ALLOWED “THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IT WAS EMPOWERED TO REGULATE”; TO ACT AS JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE FOR ITS VAULTED CFPB COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS. IN 2013, IT CHOSE NOT TO INCLUDE THE ADJUDICATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATORY COMPLAINTS WITHIN ITS SPHERE OF CONTROL, AND THIS OVERT OMISSION HAS GREATLY BUTRESSED THE PILLARS OF SYSTEMIC RACIAL DISPARITY THAT THE CFPB DATABASE INCLUDE ALMOST TWO MILLION CLOSED CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, BUT DIVIDE AMERICA. NONE OF THESE CLOSED COMPLAINTS WERE FOR RACE, ETHNIC, GENDER, AGE, OR RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION. EVEN MORE EGREGIOUS, THE CURRENT MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS WHICH WERE TO BE THE FOUNDATION UPON WHICH THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS WAS TO BE BUILT, DO NOT INCLUDE COMPLAINT ISSUES FOR COMPLAINTS SUCH AS PREDATORY LENDING, MORTGAGE LOAN FRAUD, REDLINING, STATED-INCOME, CASH-BACK SCHEMES, GHETTO LENDING, BLOCKBUSTING, … THE FACT THAT MOST OF THESE MORTGAGE RELATED ISSUES ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS, HISPANICS, AND LATINOS SHOWS THAT CFPB HAS NOT ACHIEVED ITS PRIMARY MISSION.
CFPB HAS ALLOWED BANKS, MORTGAGE LENDERS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL SERVICES INSTITUTIONS TO ACT AS JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE FOR ALL DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS FILED VIA THE CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. THIS DERELICTION OF ITS MISSION OF “ENFORCING LAWS THAT OUTLAW DISCRIMINATION IN CONSUMER FINANCE” AS DEFINED BY THE US CONGRESS, HAS GREATLY FORTIFIED ONE OF THE FIVE PILLARS OF SYSTEMIC RACIAL DISPARITY THAT DIVIDE AMERICA. CFPB’S BENIGN NEGLECT, “ LET THEM EAT CAKE” APPROACH TO DISCRIMINATORY CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, MANIFESTS ITSELF IN ITS WILLINGNESS TO ENDORSE THE COMPANY’S ADJUDICATIONS OF DISCRIMINATORY COMPLAINTS WITH ITS DREADED “CFPB KISS OF DEATH APPROVAL”, ENSURING THAT THEY CAN NEVER BE REOPENED.
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF CFPB? THE CFPB WEBSITE AT HTTP: //WWW. CFPB. GOV/PROCESS STATES THAT THE “CENTRAL MISSION OF CFPB. . . IS TO MAKE MARKETS FOR CONSUMER FINANCIAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WORK FOR AMERICANS—WHETHER THEY ARE APPLYING FOR A MORTGAGE, CHOOSING AMONG CREDIT CARDS, OR USING ANY NUMBER OF OTHER CONSUMER FINANCIAL PRODUCTS". IN 2016 ALONE MOST OF THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ABOUT THEIR FINANCIAL SERVICES—INCLUDING BANKS AND CREDIT CARD ISSUERS—WERE RECEIVED AND COMPILED BY CFPB AND ARE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ON A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DATABASE, KNOWN AS THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. CFPB MISSIONS INCLUDE: q ROOTING OUT UNFAIR, DECEPTIVE, OR ABUSIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES BY WRITING RULES, SUPERVISING COMPANIES, AND ENFORCING THE LAW. q ENFORCING LAWS THAT OUTLAW DISCRIMINATION IN CONSUMER FINANCE. * q TAKING CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. q ENHANCING FINANCIAL EDUCATION. q RESEARCHING THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE OF USING FINANCIAL PRODUCTS. q MONITORING FINANCIAL MARKETS FOR NEW RISKS TO CONSUMERS. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was “empowered” by the 2011 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” to enforce laws that outlaw discrimination; however, this empowerment was repudiated in the Notice of Final Policy Statement approved by the CFPB Executive Director on March 25, 2013. This notice, which was signed by then-Executive Director of CFPB, clearly and unambiguously stated that CFPB would not investigate discrimination complaints of any kind. The following is a direct quote from this Final Policy Statement: “The Bureau is continuing to refine its methods for identifying discrimination allegations in complaints submitted by consumers. Accordingly, the Bureau does not plan to disclose discrimination field data in the public database at this time. ” COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 13
THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINT ARBITRATIONS CLAIMED BY CFPB ARE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE; AND “IF THEY LOOK TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THEY ARE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!” CFPB IS THE PERSONFICATION OFF “EMERALD CITY ILLUSION. ” CFPB TAKES NO MEANFUL ROLE IN THE ACTUAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS, CLAIMS ALL COMPLAINTS FILED BY CONSUMERS AS SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINT ADJUDICATIONS. CFPB SHOULD HAVE ALERTED CONSUMERS ABOUT COMPANIES ALREADY BEING INVESTIGATED FOR FEDERAL CRIMES, AND CONSUMER COMPLAINTS BEING FILED AGAINST THESE COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN REVIEWED BY CFPB ENFORCEMENT UNIT TO DETERMINE IF COMPLAINTS WERE RELATED TO DOJ INVESTIGATIONS. TWO REAL-LIFE, ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES WHERE THIS MAY HAVE HELPED CONSUMERS: q In 2013, the DOJ found JPMorgan Chase and Company guilty of mortgage origination related “crimes” which may have adversely affected tens of thousands of African Americans and other financially-distressed consumers, yet there was no mentioned of this settlement on the CFPB website and all Chase consumer complaints that may have been related to this landmark lawsuit. The Department of Justice (DOJ) identified more than two-hundred Thousand non-conforming, “Toxic Mortgages” originated by JPMorgan Chase Bank at its Chase Home Loan Direct® Center in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and many of these Chase-originated mortgages may have been eligible for the $4 -Billion Consumer Relief Restitution included in this settlement. q In 2016, Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, was found guilty of opening tens-of-thousands checking and savings accounts without the knowledge or approval of customers. While Wells Fargo Bank Wells Fargo was fined more than three billion dollars, but none of this fine was paid consumers In 2015, before this crime was discovered, the number of consumers filing CFPB complaints increased from by 10. 8% while consumer complaints against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Citibank decreased by 13. 0%, 13. 9%, and 16. 8%, respectively. Even more suspicious, the number of CFPB Consumer Complaints in 2015 versus 2016 against Wells Fargo Bank for CFPB Issue: Account Opening, Closing, or Management increased by 67. 3%, the percentage of consumers receiving monetary relief only increased 0. 7% from 2015 to 2016; leading to the conclusion that the vast Majority of consumers filing 2016 CFPB Complaints about compensation received the same or less than as the 2015 complainants received before Wells Fargo Bank pled guilty to these criminal offenses. 14 "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN!
“COMPANY-CENTRIC” VERSUS “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODELS. CURRENT “COMPANY-CENTRIC” CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. * Complaints Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and Formats Consumer Complaint; and Assigns it a CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Approves and “Rubber-Stamps” Company’s Response, Close Complaint, and Updates Database. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint on Company Portal. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends Close Responses to CFPB and Consumer. CFPB Database (Updated after ”The Company has responded and Consumer Complaint is closed. ) * COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! CURRENT CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: 1. CFPB receives consumer complaints via fax, phone, postal mail, Email, referral from other federal government agency, or the web. 2. CFPB edits the consumer compliant and assigned it to a Product category and then assigns it one of the 98 Complaint Issues defined in the CFPB Complaint Process. 3. CFPB adds Complaint and other unspecified information to the Company Portal. 4. Company adjudicates Complaint and Sends Close Response to consumer and CFPB. 5. Company may “optionally” send Public Response to CFPB. 6. CFPB “approved Company arbitration decision” and sends Close Response to consumer and: a) prior to March 23, 2017, provided the consumer with the option of accepting or disputing Company’s Closed Response. b) after March 24, 2017, abandoned Complaint dispute façade, and provided the consumer with the option of appending customer feedback to consumer complaint. 7. CFPB creates a “scrubbed/edited” Consumer Complaint Record delineating the Complaint in the CFPB Complaint Database. Note: The CFPB Complaint Database is not updated until the Consumer Complaint is closed, and “The Company” specifies whether or not its Public Response is included in the CFPB Database. 15
“COMPANY-CENTRIC” VERSUS “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODELS. CURRENT “COMPANY-CENTRIC” CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. * Complaints Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and Formats Consumer Complaint; and Assigns it a CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Approves and “Rubber-Stamps” Company’s Response, Close Complaint, and Updates Database. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint on Company Portal. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends Close Responses to CFPB and Consumer. CFPB Database (Updated after ”The Company has responded and Consumer Complaint is closed. ) * COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! OPTIONAL PUBLIC RESPONSE: * q “The Company” believes compliant caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company. q “The Company” believes compliant is the result of an isolated error. q Company believes compliant relates to a discontinued policy or procedure. q “The Company” believes compliant represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers q “The Company” believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law q “The Company” believes the compliant is the result of a misunderstanding q “The Company” can't verify or dispute the facts in the compliant. ** q “The Company” chooses not to provide a public response q “The Company” disputes the facts presented in the compliant q “The Company” has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response. * Between 2011 and 2017, an astounding 562, 634 of the 743, 427 consumer complaints shown in the CFPB Complaint Database were “BLANK”. ** “The Company” partially acknowledged that the consumer’s Complaint had merit in 1, 471 (0. 02%) of the 743, 427 consumer complaints shown in the CFPB Complaint Database. Click Here to see how to save the CFPB Complaint Process. 16
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS IS NOW IN ITS EIGHTH YEAR OF OPERATION AND IS WITHOUT A DOUBT “THE GREATEST CONSUMER PROTECTION FACADE EVER PERPURTRATED UPON THE AMERICAN CONSUMER!” UNFORTUNATELY, THIS FAÇADE EXTENDS FAR BEYOND THE CFPB ORGANIZATION AND PERSONIFIED BY OTHER FEDERAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT/CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCIES THAT CONTINUE TO BLINDLY TO REFER COMPLAINTS TO CFPB WITHOUT BOTHERING TO VERIFY THAT THE AMERICAN CONSUMER IS PROTECTED. FROM DECEMBER 1, 2011 TO MARCH 25, 2017 ! Consumer complaints filed by CFPB are adjudicated solely by “The Company’ and the minor “house-keeping” role that CFPB fulfills is to follow The Company’s instructions regarding closing complaints by applying “the CFPB kiss of death approval” to the company’s compliant arbitration. This “kiss of death approval” has the full-weight of the federal government. This assures that a consumer compliant closed with the cfpb “kiss of death approval” can never be re-filed against “the company” by cfpb or any other federal government agency. Additionally, private and class-action attorneys are reluctant to pursue legal action in the courts because of the legal precedent of the federal government’s approval of the company adjudication of the complaint. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
2017 and 2019 “STANDING UP FOR THE YOU” CLAIMS: CFPB. GOV WEBSITE. (Page 1/3) March 2017 June 2019 November 2020 THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!” THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS WEBSITE INCLUDED THE EXEGGARATED AND UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS OF “STAND UP FOR THE AMERICAN CONSUMER. ” If the above “Standing up for you” claims were made by a commercial enterprise, it would be in direct violation of the FTC’s Truth in Adverting Laws, because there is nothing in the CFPB website, or the CFPB Complaint Database, which validates these outrageous claims. These two graphics were the center-pieces of the www. cfpb. gov website in 2017 and 2019 but were removed when proof of these claims was requested. The November 2020 CFPB Website only includes the percentage of Timely Responses from “The Company. ” 18
2017 and 2019 “STANDING UP FOR THE YOU” CLAIMS: Top Twenty-Four Companies (Page 2/3) EXEGGARATED AND UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS OF “STAND UP FOR THE AMERICAN CONSUMER. ” However, the website statistic quoting a 97% timely reply from “The Company” does not tell the real story regarding “Timely Replies” to CFPB Consumer Complaints. Between 2016 and 2019, a total of 8, 251 of the twenty-four companies shown above did not reply in a timely manner, and this is the final response from “The Company” shown in the CFPB Complaint Database. The 1, 550 complaints that Wells Fargo did not reply to in a timely manner during 2016 and the fact that its percentage of complaints increased 30% over 2015 should have alerted the CFPB Enforcement of impending problems with this National Bank. Predictably, these problems surfaced in 2016, when this bank was found guilty of creating tens of thousands of fraudulent checking and savings accounts and was fined $100 -Million by CFPB for its widespread illegal practices. Also, payday-lender Mobiloans LLC received 234 CFPB Consumer Complaints during this 4 -year period without responding to any of them. (See next slide for more regarding Mobiloan, LLC’s refusal to respond to any CFPB consumer complaints and how CFPB continued to send this Company consumer complaints year, after year. ) 19
SYSTEMIC RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS PERPETUATED BY LACK OF ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS, ACTS, AND CONGRESSIONAL REGULATIONS BY FEDERAL AGENCIES SUCH AS CFPB WHO REFUSE TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST COMPANIES SUCH AS PAY-DAY: MOBILOAN, LLC, WHO REFUSED TO RESPOND TO “ANY” CFPB COMPLAINTS. CFPB TURNED A BLIND-EYE EVEN THOUGH MOBILOANS, LLC REFUSED TO RESPOND TO MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED AND NINE PREVIOUS COMPLAINTS SENT FROM 2013 TO 2019. One of the high-lighted Companies on the previous slide was Mobiloan, LLC, a Louisiana-based Pay-Day Lender. From 2016 to 2019, Mobiloan, LLC, received 234 CFPB Consumer Complaints; and although they did not respond to any of them, CFPB continued to send this company consumer complaints year, after year! The EXCEL Spreadsheet shown above and continued on the following page show that during 2020, CFPB turned a blind eye and sent this Pay-Day Lender twenty-eight more CFPB Complaints, and as expected, Mobiloan, LLC did not respond to any of them. 20
SYSTEMIC RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS PERPETUATED BY LACK OF ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS, ACTS, AND CONGRESSIONAL REGULATIONS BY FEDERAL AGENCIES SUCH AS CFPB. (Continued) CFPB TURNED A BLIND-EYE EVEN THOUGH MOBILOANS, LLC REFUSED TO RESPOND TO MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED AND NINE PREVIOUS COMPLAINTS SENT FROM 2013 TO 2019. CFPB MAY NOT HAVE PAID ANY ATTENTION TO THESE COMPLAINTS BECAUSE THE COMPANY WAS A PAYDAY LENDER, AND LIKE THE VAST MAJORITY OF OTHER PAY-DAY LENDERS IN THIS COUNTRY, THEY MARKET THEIR SERVICES TO AFRICAN AMERICANS AND OTHER FINANCIALLY-DISTRESSED CONSUMERS. THE 2013 CFPB FINAL POLICY TO NOT INCLUDE RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND THE CFPB DATABASE, ENSURED THAT LENDERS, SUCH AS MOBILOANS, LLC, WHO PREY UPON AFRICAN AMERICAN CONSUMERS WOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SUCH AS CFPB. 21
THE “FLAWED” CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. CFPB LIEDED TO 145, 150 CONUMERS REGARDING A NON-EXISTANT CONSUMER DISPUTE PROCESS: DECEMBER 1, 2011 UNTIL MARCH 25, 2017 130, 671 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WERE RECEIVED BY CFPB FROM OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES AND 21, 367 OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE DISPUTED. CFPB was established in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and since it went operational on December 1, 2011, other federal government agencies such as the Comptroller of the (OCC), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of DOJ, and Federal Reserve Board (FRB) are required by this Act to refer financially-oriented consumer complaints received by their agencies to CFPB. During the eight-plus years since this Act was enacted by the US Congress, 130, 671 of the 743, 427 consumer complaints received by other federal agencies were referred to CFPB for adjudication. “The Company” responses to 21, 367 of these referred complaints were disputed by the consumers who submitted them to the aforementioned agencies. However, the final disposition of these complaints was never communicated back to these referring agencies by CFPB; and, thus these referring federal agencies were unaware that CFPB had not completed the compliant resolution process as defined under the Dodd-Frank Act. As this implies, the 21, 367 consumers who filed complaints with other federal agencies, along with the other 123, 783 consumers who believed that CFPB had investigated their disputed complaints, and if necessary, returned to the federal agencies to which these complaints were originally-submitted for further investigation. The fact that these consumer’s complaints were never correctly adjudicated is a “black-eye” to all federal agencies of the government. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. FROM DECEMBER 1, 2011 UNTIL MARCH 25, 2017 49, 222 CRIMINAL-RELATED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WERE RECEIVED BY CFPB FROM CONSUMERS AND OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES AND 9, 508 (19. 3%0 OF THESE CRIMINAL-RELATED COMPLAINTS WERE FORMALLY-DISPUTED AND/OR REFERRED TO OTHER FEDERAL OR STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. One of the advertised features of the CFPB Complaint Process was a procedure whereby consumers could formallydispute arbitration responses from “The company”; and between 49, 222 of the total 743, 427 complaints filed via the CFPB Complaint Process were for criminal-related activities. The Company’s arbitration responses to 9, 508 of these complaints were disputed by consumers. CFPB “promised” to investigate these disputed complaints but then reneged on this promise; and thus, none of these disputed Complaint were investigated. Promising to “investigate” these disputed complaints, and then failing to do so was particularly a cruel and inhume act, because CFPB could have referred these Complaint to federal or state law enforcement agencies for further investigation. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS. [Docket No. CFPB-2012 -0023] Disclosure of Consumer Complaint Data, AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. ACTION: Notice of Final Policy Statement Regarding Discrimination Consumer groups and trade associations mainly reiterated comments made in response to the Credit Card Data Proposed Policy Statement. Consumer groups generally favored the inclusion of the data, and industry groups commented that it should remain excluded. One trade association suggested eliminating the field from the compliant intake forms altogether, citing a lack of meaningful data and evidence of value in its collection. Some consumer groups, however, suggested that the Bureau request protected class information to assist in the detection of patterns and practices of lending and credit discrimination, and provide an explanation to consumers as to the value in collecting such information. The Bureau is continuing to refine its methods for identifying discrimination allegations in complaints submitted by consumers. Accordingly, the Bureau does not plan to disclose discrimination field data in the public database at this time. In the interim, the Bureau will continue to study the conditions, if any, necessary for the appropriate disclosure of such information at the individual compliant level. The Bureau “may” also report discrimination allegation data at aggregated levels in its own periodic compliant data reports. Dated: March 25, 2013. Richard Cordray, Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The 2013 March 25, 2013, Notice of Final Policy Statement Regarding Discrimination stated that CFPB would not include discrimination in its database, but that CFPB would continue to study “conditions. ” CFPB has now had more than seven-year to study the systemic racial disparity which exists in many financial products within its sphere of control, and has chosen a. ) not to add discrimination as a “Product” within the CFPB Complaint Process, b. ) not add Racial Demographic fields to its public database, or c. ) not to expand the Issues and Sub-Issues lists to include all forms of discrimination. THE COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “THE COMPANY ALWAYS WIN!”
COMPARISION OF THE ARBITRATION OF CFPB MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS VERSUS ALL CFPB NON-MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS PROCESS. THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2010 BY THE DODD-FRANK WALL STREET REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT AS A MECHNISM TO ENSURE THAT CONSUMERS WERE PROTECTED FROM A RE-OCCURANCE OF THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE LENDING FRENZY THAT OCCURRED FROM 2004 THROUGH 2008. HOWEVER, AS THE TWO COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS TABLES BELOW ILLUSTRATE, HOME MORTGAGE LENDERS ARE NOW IN FIRM CONTROL OF THE HOME MORTGAGE INDUSTRY AND HAVE A WINNING PERCENTAGE OF ALMOST 92% OF ALL CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. THIS WINNING PERCENTAGE IS MORE THAN SIXTEEN PERCENT HIGHER THAN NON-MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS. 25
THE OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CFPB “ALL-SEEING, ALL-KNOWING“ COMPANY PORTAL ARE HIDDEN FROM CONSUMERS, BUT IT IS THE PRIMARY BASIS UPON WHICH ALL CFPB COMPLAINTS ARE ADJUDICATED BY THE COMPANY. THE INSIDIOUS, “ALL-SEEING, ALL-KNOWING” COMPANY PORTAL INCLUDES A COMPLAINT ARCHIVAL DATABASE AND MULTIPLE COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION FORMS THAT ALLOWS “THE COMPANY” TO SELECT FROM: (1) “CANNED (OR BLANK) PUBLIC RESPONSES”, (2)“SUGGESTED, ONE-BUTTON CONSUMER ADJUDICATION RESPONSES”, (3) “CANNED CLOSED RESPONSES, WITH (OR WITHOUT) EXPLANATION”, AND CAN SPECIFY WHICH, “IF ANY”, OF “THE COMPANY’S” PUBLIC RESPONSES CAN BE SHARED WITH REGULATORS AND/OR OTHER CONSUMERS. (THE COMPANY PORTAL ALSO ENABLES “THE COMPANY” TO SPECIFY WHETHER OR NOT CLOSED COMPLAINTS CAN BE ARCHIVED IN “THE GOVERNMENT’S” CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. 26 "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN!
STARTING IN 2015, THE COMPANY PORTAL PROVIDED “THE COMPANY” WITH, 1. )A LIST OF “ACCEPTABLE” PUBLIC RESPONSES, AND 2. ) THESE PUBLIC RESPONSES WERE ALSO USED AS THE “EXPLANATION” IN THE CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE; HOWEVER, CFPB ALSO ALLOWS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE FIELD TO BE “LEFT BLANK”, WHICH WAS DONE BY “THE COMPANY 75. 68% OF THE TIME. HOWEVER, IF THIS FIELD IS BLANK, IT IS UNCLEAR HOW “THE COMPANY” COMPLAINT NARRATIVE WAS REPORTED TO THE CONSUMER AND WHY THIS CRITICALLY-IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 27
STARTING IN 2015, THE COMPANY PORTAL PROVIDED “THE COMPANY” WITH A LIST OF “ACCEPTABLE” PUBLIC RESPONSES; HOWEVER, CFPB ALSO ALLOWS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE FIELD TO BE BLANK, WHICH WAS DONE BY “THE COMPANY” EXACTLY 75. 68% OF THE TIME. (IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT, 1. ) MORE THAN SEVENTY-FIVE OF PUBLIC RESPONSES ARE BLANK, B. ) ONLY 0. 35% OF PUBLIC RESPONSE S “DISPUTES THE FACTS PRESENTED IN THE COMPLAINT” AND C. ) THERE IS NO PUBLIC RESPONSE THAT ACCEPTS BLAME FOR THE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS BY EITHER THE COMPANY OR ITS EMPLOYEES. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 28
STARTING IN 2015 THE COMPANY PORTAL PROVIDED “THE COMPANY” WITH, 1. )A LIST OF “ACCEPTABLE” PUBLIC RESPONSES, AND 2. ) THESE PUBLIC RESPONSES WERE ALSO USED AS THE “EXPLANATION” IN THE CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE; HOWEVER, CFPB ALSO ALLOWS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE FIELD TO BE BLANK, WHICH WAS DONE BY “THE COMPANY 75. 68% OF THE TIME. HOWEVER, IF THIS FIELD IS BLANK, IT IS UNCLEAR HOW “EXPLANATION” IN THE CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE WAS COMMUNICATED TO CFPB. RED-SHADED ENTRIES SHOW THAT 94. 6% OF COMPANY COMPLAINT RESPONSES “WERE NOT SHARED PUBLICLY”; AND, GREEN-SHADED ENTRIES SHOW THAT CONSUMERS DISPUTED FACTS CONTAINED IN THE COMPLAINT ONLY 0. 365% OF THE TIME. (IN REALITY, CONSUMER DISPUTED 19. 6% ALL COMPLAINT RESPONSES FROM “THE COMPANY”. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 29
THE SAD, SHAMEFUL CFPB “STANDING UP FOR YOU” RESULTS FROM 2011 TO 2017! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 30
THE REAL CFPB “STANDING UP FOR YOU” RESULTS FROM 2011 TO 2017! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 31
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) Complaint PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! SUCCESSFUL ARBITRATIONS CLAIMED BY CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “IF IT LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THEN IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!” (Continued) “Informed Consumers” should avoid the option of filing their complaints via the “company-centric” CFPB Complaint Process in which “the company” always wins because, in virtually all instances, Consumers would receive the same (or better) compliant adjudication from “The Company” if they filed their financially-oriented Complaint directly with the company” rather than the company-centric CFPB. The DIY-CARP Alternative permits consumers who registered their complaints directly with “The Company” to exercise options of disputing, appealing and/or escalating “The Company’s” unfair arbitration by re-filing their Complaint with other federal, state or local consumer complaint/consumer protection agencies; and if necessary, retain an attorney to file court actions; without being handicapped by the rubber-stamped CFPB “Kiss-of-Death” approval of “The Company’s” flawed adjudication. Our experience shows that once any Complaint is closed with the CFPB “Kiss-of-Death” approval, it is virtually-impossible for it to be Re-filed with any other federal, state, or local consumer Complaint agency; and Even experienced litigation attorneys will be reluctant to challenge “The Company’s” Biased adjudication response in a legal federal or state court judicial action. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 32
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! -ABOUT CFPB COMPLAINT MONITOR INVESTIGATIVE WEB-DOC© SITEInvestigative Web-Doc Sites are based upon new, innovative web-based paradigms that utilize Microsoft Office® products such as Power. Point, Word, Excel and Expression Web to present complex, investigative findings in intuitive, non-technical visualizations, which include web-type hyper-links to Custom Power. Point Shows that “drill-down” to relevant source documents, Databases Models, Charts, Graphs, Tables and Comparative-Analysis worksheets. Online version of this Investigative Web-Doc Site can be found at http: //www. cfpbcomplaintmonitor. org. -COPYRIGHTED SOURCESAll spreadsheets, tables, graphs, charts, data models and illustrative-diagrams contained in this Investigative Web-Doc© site are based upon federal government sources including more than 1. 5 -million consumer complaints stored in the CFPB Complaint Database at its website at www. CFPB. gov. Thirteen actual CFPB Consumer Complaints filed from 2014 and 2020. ) Copies of 2015 -2020 CFPB Complaint Databases used to develop this Investigative Web-Doc© website are readily available in the public domain at http: //www. cfpb. gov or can be provided by the creator of this site upon request to James H. Barnes at: jhbarnes@jhbarnes. com. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 33
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! STATEMENT OF FACTS: IN 2011, THE US CONGRESS CREATED THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) TO PROVIDE “A LEVEL FINANCIAL-SERVICES PLAYING FIELD” UPON WHICH AMERICAN CONSUMERS COULD ACQUIRE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM LARGE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES AND BANKS; UNFORTUNATELY, JUST THE OPPOSITE OCCURRED, AS THE CFPB CONSUMER Complaint PROCESS HAS EVOLVED INTO A COMPANY-CENTRIC Complaint PROCESS WHERE “THE COMPANY”, IN ADDITION TO BEING THE DEFENDANT IN THE COMPLAINTS, WAS ALSO THE JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE; AND THUS, WINS ALL COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST IT BY “THE BUREAU”. THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT FROM DECEMBER 2011 TO MARCH 23, 2017, 743, 427 CFPB COMPLAINTS WERE FILED BY CONSUMERS, AND “THE COMPANY”; NOT THE CFPB, CLOSED ALL 743, 427 COMPLAINTS! ADDITIONALLY, 145, 150 (19. 5%) OF THESE CLOSED RESPONSES WERE FORMALLY DISPUTED BY CONSUMERS VIA CFPB’S Complaint DISPUTE PROCEDURE; BUT, NONE OF THESE DISPUTED COMPLAINTS WERE EVER REVIEWED BY CFPB; OR WERE RETURNED TO “THE COMPANY” FOR RE-ADJUDICATIONS. THIS ALLOWED THE ORIGINAL CLOSED RESPONSES TO STAND; AND EVEN MORE REPREHINSIBLE, CFPB “BLATANTLY LIED TO CONSUMERS”, LEADING THEM TO BELIEVE THAT THEIR DISPUTED COMPLAINTS WERE BEING RE-ADJUDICATED BY CFPB AND/OR “THE COMPANY”; WHEN IN FACT, THEIR DISPUTED COMPLAINTS HAD BEEN IRREFUTABLY CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY” WITH THE CFPB’S “KISS-OF-DEATH” APPROVAL”. HENCEFORTH, “THE COMPANY CAN USED THE CFPB ”KISS OF DEATH” APPROVAL TO IMMEDIATELY ALL FUTURE SIMILAR (OR “UN-SIMILAR)” COMPLAINTS FROM THE SAME CONSUMER. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 34
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! CFPB RELINQUISHES ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS DEFINED UNDER THE DODD-FRANK ACT AND ALLOWS “THE COMPANY” TO ASSUME ROLE OF JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED VIA THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS; AND, WHEN PREDICTABLY, “THE COMPANY” WONS MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF ALL CFPB COMPLAINTS. PRIOR TO APRIL 2017, THIS FLAWED, COMPANY-CENTRIC CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS “CLAIMED THAT IT ALLOWED CONSUMERS TO APPEAL “THE COMPANY” ADJUDICATION RESPONSES, BUT IF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS DID INCLUDE A FORMAL COMPLAINT APPEAL PROCESS, IT WAS NOT USED FOR ANY OF THE 145, 150 DISPUTES FILED BY CONSUMERS BETWEEN THE YEARS OF 2011 THROUGH 2017. ADDITIONALLY, THE RESULTS OF THESE APPEALS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. AN EVEN MORE CREDIBLE EVIDENCE THAT A CFPB COMPLAINT APPEAL OPTION WAS NEVER AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS WAS THAT IN MAY 2017, IN AN ACT OF “REVISIONIST HISTORY”, CFPB CLAIMED THAT WAS FILED AS DISPUTES BY CONSUMERS WERE ACTUALLY “CONSUMER FEEDBACK. ” *An archived-record of all CFPB’s “Kiss of Death Approvals” of the company responses are stored in the “All. Seeing, All-Knowing Company Portal, and can be used to disallow all future complaints regardless of the discovery of new evidence by the consumer. This archived CFPB “Kiss of Death Approval” of “The Company” response is also used to reject the same or identical consumer complaints filed with other federal or state consumer Complaint agencies and can be used as evidence in criminal or civil court proceedings. Civil litigation and class action attorneys are reluctant to accept financial services related any compliant/claim that have been adjudicated by “The Company”; and “The Company’s” response has been “authenticated” by the CFPB’s “Kiss of Death Approval” which carries the “weight of the entire US Government. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 35
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! “THE COMPANY” WINS” THE VAST MAJORITY OF CFPB COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST IT BY CONSUMERS, BECAUSE IT CONTROLS THE COMPLETE, END-TO-END CFPB COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS, INCLUDING REVIEWING, ARBITRATING, AND CLOSING CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WITHOUT PUBLICLY-SHARING THE LEGAL, MORAL, OR ETHICAL JUSTIFICATION S FOR ITS RULINGS. EQUALLY-APPALLING, IS THE FACT THAT THE CFPB FOIA OFFICE FOUND NO DOCUMENTED CFPB REVIEWS (OR DISPUTES). THIS FLAWED, COMPANY- CENTRIC COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS WORKS AS FOLLOWS: q COMPLAINTS SUBMITTED TO CFPB AND CFPB SENDS THE COMPLAINTS TO “THE COMPANY”. q “THE COMPANY” UNILATERALLY, PERFORM ITS COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS. q “THE COMPANY “ THEN ENDS “WIZARD OF OZ” TYPE ADJUDICATION RESPONSE WITHOUT EXPLANATION TO CFPB AND CONSUMERS. q CFPB RUBBER STAMP APPROVES “THE COMPANY’S” ADJUDICATION RESPONSE AND CLOSE THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT WITHOUT FURTHER REVIEW. IN APRIL 2017, CFPB DISCONTINUED ITS “SHAM” COMPLAINT DISPUTE PROCESS, AND REPLACED IT WITH, AN EVEN MORE IRRELEVANT, NONSENSICAL PROCESS, REFERRED TO AS “CONSUMER FEEDBACK PROCESS”; THAT IS INTENDED TO DECEIVE THE AMERICAN CONSUMERS INTO BELIEVING THAT “CFPB IS ON THEIR SIDE”, WHEN IN ACTUALITY, CFPB PLAYED NO ROLE IN THE COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS. Between 2001 and 2017, CFPB deceived, misled, and otherwise, betrayed 140, 150 American consumers, promising them that CFPB would “investigate their disputed complaints”, and “authenticate the Company adjudication response; however the CFPB Complaint database shows that no formal investigations were conducted. (The total number of disputed complaints would likely have been several times higher if consumers lodging these claims had not felt that all adjudication responses from “The Company” had not been review and formally approved by this US Government agency which was empowered to act upon their behalf. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 36
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! “ALLOWING THE FOX TO GUARD THE HEN-HOUSE”: THE INHERENT “CONFLICT OF INTEREST” OF THE VENDORS OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS RESULTED IN THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION DATABASE MODEL WHICH FAVORS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN “THE CONSUMER”. THE INITIAL CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, ALONG WITH ITS POORLY-DESIGNED CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE AND COMPANY PORTAL WERE DEVELOPED BY GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION; HOWEVER, CFPB’S CURRENT CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS WAS DEVELOPED BY “ONE THE NATION’S PRE-EMINENT PROVIDER OF CLOUD-BASED CRM APPLICATIONS AND DATABASES: SALESFORCE. THIS VENDOR’S INDUSTRY-LEADING PROVIDER OF CRM APPLICATIONS AND DATABASES TO FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES AND BANKS, COUPLED WITH ITS TOTAL, END-TO-END CONTROL OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS ALLOWS IT TO MANAGE BOTH SIDES OF THE GOVERNMENT’S BOTH SIDE COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS THE END RESULTS OF THIS “UNTETHERED” CONTROL OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION INFRASTRUCTURE PRESENTED SALESFORCE WITH POSSIBLLY-CONFLICTING MOTIVATIONS TO: q DEVELOP AND MARKET CLOUD-BASED CRM APPLICATIONS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES AND NATIONAL BANKS, VRSUS; q PROVIDE A TURNKEY, END-TO-END CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESS AND DATABASE, BY WHICH CONSUMERS COULD SUBMIT FINANCIALLY-ORIENTED COMPLAINTS AGAINST IT FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES AND BANK CUSTOMERS. CONSEQUENTLY, THIS VENDOR HAD LITTLE, OR NO, MARKETING MOTIVATION “TO DO WHAT’S BEST FOR THE CONSUMER”; AND, GIVEN A CHOICE BETWEEN A “CONSUMER-CENTRIC COMPLAINT PROCESS DESIGN”, AND A “COMPANY-CENTRIC COMPLAINT PROCESS DESIGN”; IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE WHY THE CURRENT CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS IS BASED ON A “COMPANY-CENTRIC DATA MODEL” RATHER THN A “CONSUMER-CENTRIC DATA MODEL”. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 37
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! 1) A FATAL “CONFLICT OF INTEREST” THAT FAVORS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN “THE CONSUMER” EXIST IN THE CURRENT DESIGN OF BOTH THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE AND THE COMPANY PORTAL. 2) CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE DOES NOT INCLUDES: 3) Date of Complaint allegation. Approximate monetary value of complaint. Racial demographics of complainant. City, State and Zip Code of complainant. Company Name rather than subsidiary or business unit against which the Complaint is being filed. (See table on right side of slide. ) The description of consumer Complaint sent to “The Company”. All Public Responses received from “The Company”. Final resolution of disputed complaints. Name of federal or state agency to whom escalated Complaint were referred. THE “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” this explanation field is not included in the CFPB Database 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) Although the CFPB Complaint Database contains more than one and a half million consumer Complaint records, the absence of the above information renders it impossible for regulators and consumers to use analytical analysis tools and methodologies to analyze Trends and Aberrations and Repeat Offending Subsidiaries/Business Units. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 38
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! A FATAL “CONFLICT OF INTEREST” THAT FAVORS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN “THE CONSUMER” EXIST IN THE CURRENT DESIGN OF BOTH THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE AND THE COMPANY PORTAL. (Continued) (Note) *Note: Complaint ID is not the same Complaint Number assigned to the Complaint. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 39
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 40
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! Information Obtained from CFPB Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Department shows that from 2011 through 2016, COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 103, 618 Consumer Complaints shows to other Federal State and Local Agencies; however, None was referred to DOJ Civil Enforcement Offices, and only two (2) were referred to CFPB’s Enforcement Department. 41
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! Assessment of Top-20 Companies: CFPB Fails to Review and Monitor its Complaint Database for Trends, Patterns, and aberrations, thus between January 2011 and March 2017, more than Sixty-Two Percent of all Consumer complaints were Filed against the above Top-20 Companies. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 42
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! Assessment of Top-20 Companies: The Number of Consumer Complaints "Closed with Explanation" was more than ten times the number "Closed with Monetary Relief". Example of the Failure of the CFPB Complaint Process The percentage of consumer complaints "Closed with Monetary Relief" decreased from 16. 91% in 2012 down to 9. 91% in 2016. . COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 43
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! Top-20 Company's "Closed with Explanation" Responses. (Red: Company Responses to Complaints, not Shared Publicly. ) Public Response to Consumer Company believes Complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company. Company believes Complaint is the result of an isolated error. Company believes Complaint relates to a discontinued policy or procedure. Company believes Complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers. Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law. Company believes the Complaint is the result of a misunderstanding. Company can't verify or dispute the facts in the complaint. Company chooses not to provide a public response. Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint. Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response. BLANK (No Response or Explanation) Total Complaints Year Consumer Complaint Filed by CFPB 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total Complaints 1 49 21 3 74 0. 02% 84 379 48 511 0. 15% 5 3 8 0. 00% 15 112 30 157 0. 05% 4 1012 1934 231 3181 0. 91% 1 46 334 52 433 0. 12% 19 12 2 33 0. 01% 25452 4028 29519 8. 47% 22 2 24 0. 01% 9 38952 8023 46987 13. 48% 41971 87748 12388 20777 267556 348483 76. 78% 100. 00% 39 3 11 11 29396 61899 72280 49611 29396 61899 72328 76324 COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! Percent Complaints Example of the Failure of the CFPB Complaint Process: More than ninety-eight percent of the Complaint responses from Companies were either blank or were not shared publicly. This practicallyeliminates all capabilities of both consumers, and other consumer Complaint agencies, to view a Company's responses to similar CFPB Consumer Complaints. (The only aberration in the above table is that less than one percent of the consumer complaints filed against the Top-20, received the Company's response: "Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint". It is inconceivable, that in essence, the Company is stating that the facts presented by the consumer were not disputed 99. 99% of the time; however, only 6. 67% of all consumer complaints were "Closed with Monetary Relief". ) 44
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! Example of the Failure of the CFPB Complaint Process: More than ninety-eight percent of the Complaint responses from Companies were either blank or were not shared publicly. This practicallyeliminates all capabilities of both consumers, and other consumer Complaint agencies, to view a Company's responses to similar CFPB Consumer Complaints. (The only aberration in the above table is that less than one percent of the consumer complaints filed against the Top-20, received the Company's response: "Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint". It is inconceivable, that in essence, the Company is stating that the facts presented by the consumer were not disputed 99. 99% of the time; however, only 6. 67% of all consumer complaints were "Closed with Monetary Relief". ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 45
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! FIVE OF THE NATIONS LEADING NATIONAL BANKS WERE INCLUDED IN THE TOP-10 CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AND TOP-10 DISPUTED CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. 46 COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB:
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! BETWEEN 2011 AND MARCH 2017, CFPB “LIED” TO 145, 150 CONSUMERS REGARDING THE EXISTENCE OF AN ACTIONABLE DISPUTE PROCEDURE WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. HOWEVER, IN 2017 CFPB ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THESE DISPUTES WERE ONLY CONSUMER FEEDBACK, AND NONE WERE RE-REVIEWED BY CFPB, RETURNED TO “THE COMPANY” FOR FURTHER ADJUDICATON; OR REFERRED TO OTHER CONSUMER COMPLAINT OR ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. Illustration of Complaint process design defects: From 2013 through 2016, 6, 585 complaints were for serious, criminal offences were filed with CFPB, and 1, 243 (18. 9%) of the responses to these complaints were disputed by consumers. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 47
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! BETWEEN 2011 AND MARCH 2017, CFPB “LIED” TO 145, 150 CONSUMERS REGARDING THE EXISTENCE OF AN ACTIONABLE DISPUTE PROCEDURE WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. HOWEVER, IN 2017 CFPB ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THESE DISPUTES WERE ONLY CONSUMER FEEDBACK, AND NONE WERE RE-REVIEWED BY CFPB, RETURNED TO “THE COMPANY” FOR FURTHER ADJUDICATON; OR REFERRED TO OTHER CONSUMER COMPLAINT OR ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. Illustration of Complaint process design defects: From 2013 through 2016, 6, 585 complaints were for serious, criminal offences were filed with CFPB, and 1, 243 (18. 9%) of the responses to these complaints were disputed by consumers. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 48
COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS, PROTECTS “THE COMPANY” RATHER THAN "THE CONSUMER”! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 49
WHAT WERE THE ORIGINAL DESIGN GOALS OF CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS? THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS WAS INTENDED TO BE REVOLUTIONARY, 21 ST CENTURY APPROACH FOR PROVIDING A CENTRAL REPOSITORY FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. THE CENTER-PIECE OF THIS NEW COMPLAINT PROCESS WAS TO BE A GOVERNMENT DATABASE IN WHICH ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WOULD BE STORED ANALYZED USING SOPHISTICATED, ANALYTICS TOOLS THAT WOULD DETECT AND REPORT: TRENDS, ABERRATIONS, AND OTHER IMPORTANT INDICATORS OF CONSUMER INTERACTIONS WITH FINANCIAL-SERVICES COMPANIES. THE ANALYTICAL COMPONENT OF THIS NEW PROCESS WAS CHOSEN BECAUSE IT WOULD USE SOPHISTICATED PROBABILITY AND MODELING TOOL TO AUTOMATE MANY OF THE FUNCTIONS THAT HERETOFORE WERE PERFORMED BY CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 50
“FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN”. THE FINAL “NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS” WAS CFPB’S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT IT’S “SHAM” COMPLAINT DISPUTE OPTION WAS BEING DISCONTINUED; BECAUSE THE DISPUTE OPTION, WAS THE LAST CHANCE FOR CFPB TO PARTICIPATION IN “ITS OWN” COMPLAINT PROCESS: ON MAY 1, 2017, THE COMPLAINT DISPUTE OPTION WAS QUIETLY, AND UNCEREMONIOUSLY REMOVED FROM THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS BY THE CFPB COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT, AND ALTHOUGH, IT NOW APPEARS THAT THERE WAS NEVER AN ACTIONABLE CFPB DISPUTE PROCESS, IT IS ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT CONSUMERS NOW HAVE NO OPTIONS FOR DISPUTING RESPONSES FROM “THE COMPANY” BEFORE THEIR CFPB COMPLAINT IS CLOSED. AND WHILE THIS MAY APPEAR TO BE A SUPERFICIAL, UNIMPORTANT CHANGE TO THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, IT REMOVED “THE LAST OPPORTUNITY FOR “CFPB TO PARTICIPATE IN ITS OWN COMPLAINT PROCESS”. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 51
“THE COMPANY” CONTROLS THE CFPB COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS, AND ACTS AS JUDGE, JURY AND APPELLATE. IT CAN CLOSE "ANY CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AT ANY TIME”, WITHOUT THE CONCURRENCE OF EITHER CFPB OR THE CONSUMER. CFPB Complaint Process Defect: The consumer Complaint review process described in step 2 below, is not performed by CFPB. (When a consumer Complaint is received by CFPB it is edit-checked, and “immediately” placed on the company portal. In some instances, complaints received from other federal agencies, are not reviewed or reformatted, and the referring agency’s Complaint form is simply place on the Company Portal by CFPB. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 52
CFPB’S “ALL-SEEING COMPANY PORTAL” PROVIDES “THE COMPANY” WITH AN UNFAIR, INSURMOUNTABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OVER CONSUMERS. THE PORTAL INCLUDES ARCHIVE HISTORY OF ALL PREVIOUSLY FILED COMPLAINTS, AND OTHER OF VALUE-ADDED APPS THAT ARE PROVIDED TO “THE COMPANY” BY CFPB AT NO CHARGE. “THE COMPANY” CAN REQUEST THAT CFPB NOT SHARE ITS RESPONSES TO CONSUMER COMPLAINTS PUBLICLY. Illustration of Company Portal design defects: The first chart shown below show that between 2011 and 2017, “The Company” chose not to publicly share its responses to consumer complaints 93. 6% of the time. (It won 77. 4% of all CFPB complaints, and only granted consumer’s monetary relief 6. 5% of the time. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 53
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE ONE: CFPB WEBSITE HOME PAGE “STANDING UP FOR YOU CLAIMS” - ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. THE STATISTICS FOR ALL COMPLAINTS FILED VIA THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS SHOWN ON THE MARCH 2017 HOME PAGE UNDER THE “STANDING UP FOR YOU” CAPTION; CLAIMS THAT CFPB HAS PROVIDED 11 BILLION DOLLARS IN RELIEF TO 29 MILLION CONSUMERS, AND THAT THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS HANDLED MORE THAN 1. 1 MILLION COMPLAINTS. THIS HOME PAGE ALSO CLAIMED THAT CONSUMERS RECEIVED “TIMELY RESPONSES” TO THESE COMPLAINTS, 97% OF THE TIME. THE TABLE SHOWN BELOW PROVIDES A MUCH MORE ACCURATE ESTIMATE OF THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS FOR THE DECEMBER 12, 2011 THROUGH APRIL 23, 2017 PERIOD; AND THREE OTHER PERIODS SINCE THE SO-CALLED COMPLAINT DISPUTE PROCESS WAS DISCONTINUED: ALL COMPLAINTS FILED FROM DECEMBER 12, 2011 THROUGH MAY 31, 2019. Date December 12, 2011 to April 23, 2017 April 24, 2017 January 31, 2018 # of Complaints 762, 444 194, 274 % Wins Company Consumer 76. 9% 84. 1% # Disputed Complaints Date 19. 0% 148, 402* (19. 5%) February 1, 2018 January 31, 2019 15. 3% No Disputes Allowed February 1, 2019 May 31, 2019 # of Complaints 252, 753 82, 385 % Wins Company Consumer 80% 72. 0% # Disputed Complaints 17. 8% No Disputes Allowed 16. 7% No Disputes Allowed Source: 2011 -2019 CFPB Complaint Database. *Consumers disputed *19. 5% of all Complaint responses received from "The Company"; however, none of these complaints were reviewed (or re-adjudicated) by the CFPB Complaint Process. Even more egregious, between December 12, 2011, and April 23, 2017, CFPB purposely misled consumers into believing that if they disagreed with the response from “The Company”, that their complaints would formally be reviewed by the CFPB resolution specialists, however, in April 2017, CFPB discontinued this fraud, and in a stroke of “revisionist history” reclassified all 148, 402 complaints disputed shown in the CFPB Complaint Database as consumer feedback request. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 54
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE TWO: CFPB WEBSITE HOME PAGE “STANDING UP FOR YOU CLAIMS” - MORTGAGE CLAIMS. THE STATISTICS FOR MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS DURING THE FOUR PERIODS SHOWN IN THE PREVIOUS SLIDE, FURTHER REPUDIATES THE “STANDING UP FOR YOU” CAPTION SHOWN ON THE CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT WEBSITE. THE COMPANY “WINNING” PERCENTAGE OF MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS WERE MORE THAN EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT DURING THE PERIOD FROM DECEMBER 11, 2011 AND APRIL 23, 2017, AND HAS BEEN EVEN HIGHER SINCE THE CFPB COMPLAINT DISPUTE PROCESS WAS DISCONTINUED IN APRIL 2017: MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS FILED FROM DECEMBER 12, 2011 THROUGH MAY 31, 2019. Date December 12, 2011 to April 23, 2017 April 24, 2017 January 31, 2018 # of Complaints 225, 899 21, 365 % Wins Company Consumer 85. 2% 93. 3% # Disputed Complaints Date 8. 8% 51, 384* (22. 7%) February 1, 2018 January 31, 2019 6. 2% No Disputes Allowed* February 1, 2019 May 31, 2019 # of Complaints 24, 219 6, 853 % Wins Company Consumer 91. 9% 86. 4% # Disputed Complaints 6. 4% No Disputes Allowed* 5. 3% No Disputes Allowed* Source: 2011 -2019 CFPB Complaint Database. *Consumers disputed 22. 7% of Mortgage complaints responses received from "The Company"; ” were disputed by consumers; however, none of these complaints were reviewed (or re-adjudicated) by the CFPB Complaint Process. Even more egregious, between December 12, 2011, and April 23, 2017, CFPB purposely misled consumers into believing that if they disagreed with the response from “The Company”, that their complaints would formally be reviewed by the CFPB resolution specialists. However, in April 2017, CFPB discontinued this fraud, and in a stroke of “revisionist history” reclassified all 51, 384 complaints disputed shown in the CFPB Complaint Database as consumer feedback request. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 55
ANALYSIS OF COMPANY RESPONSES TO 197, 256 “HAVES*” COMPLAINTS. (Page 1 of 2) (11. 6% to 25. 2% of CFPB complaints for “haves” were referred from other agencies, and 15. 8% were disputed. ) *Although there are no racial demographic fields in the CFPB Complaint Database, this analysis assumes that the majority of the “HAVES” are White or Asian, and the majority of the “Have-Nots” are African American. 56
ANALYSIS OF COMPANY RESPONSES TO 154, 099 “HAVES-NOTS*” COMPLAINTS (Page 2 of 2) (6. 4% to 7. 1% of CFPB complaints for “Have-Nots” were referred from other agencies, and only 0. 2% were disputed. ) *Although there are no racial demographic fields in the CFPB Complaint Database, this analysis assumes that the majority of the “HAVES” are White or Asian, and the majority of the “Have-Nots” are African American. 57
SUMMARY OF CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS - DISCRIMINATION. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 58
THE REAL CAPTION ON THE SITE CFPB COMPLAINT WEBSITE SHOULD BE “STANDING UP FOR THE COMPANY!” COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 59
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. CFPB DESIGN FLAWS THAT SHOW WHY COMPLAINT PROCESS HAS “NEVER” WORKED: I. THE DATE OF COMPLAINT ALLEGATION IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE DATABASE, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE IF IT OCCURRED DOZENS OF TIMES DURING THE SAME CALENDAR YEAR OR DOZENS OF TIMES DURING AN EXTENDED PERIOD. ABSENCE OF THIS DATE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO USE ANALYTIC PROCESSES TO DETECT AND ANALYZE TRENDS AND ABERRATIONS. II. CFPB’S “ALL-SEEING, ALL-KNOWING” COMPANY PORTAL PROVIDES “THE COMPANY” WITH AN UNFAIR, INSURMOUNTABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OVER THE CONSUMER. THE COMPANY PORTAL INCLUDES AN ARCHIVED HISTORY OF ALL PREVIOUSLY COMPLAINTS FILED BY THE CONSUMER, AND OTHER OF VALUE-ADDED CRM-TYPE APPS, PROVIDED TO “THE COMPANY” BY CFPB AT NO CHARGE. CONVERSELY, “THE COMPANY” CAN ARBITRARILY REQUEST THAT ITS RESPONSES TO CONSUMERS NOT BE PUBLISHED IN THE DATABASE AND/OR NOT BE SHARED PUBLICLY. (THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT THE NATION’S LARGEST BANK HAS ONLY PUBLICLY-SHARED TWO (2) OF ITS MORE THAN 52 K CLOSED RESPONSES TO CFPB COMPLAINTS. ) III. BETWEEN 2011 AND MARCH 2017, CFPB “LIED” TO 145, 150 CONSUMERS REGARDING THE EXISTENCE OF A ACTIONABLE DISPUTE PROCEDURE WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. IN MARCH 2017 CFPB ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THESE SO-CALLED DISPUTES WERE CONSUMER FEEDBACK AND WERE NOT REVIEWED BY CFPB. DISPUTED COMPLAINTS WERE NOT SENT TO “THE COMPANY” FOR FURTHER REVIEW OR REFERRED TO OTHER CONSUMER COMPLAINT/ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. IV. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE THAT CFPB HAS AWARDED $11. 8 TO $12. 4. BILLION RELIEF TO CONSUMERS BECAUSE THERE IS NO MONETARY ESTIMATE OF LOSS SUFFERED BY CONSUMERS IN THE CONSUMER PORTAL, COMPANY PORTAL, OR THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE. V. “THE COMPANY” UTILIZED THE COMPANY PORTAL TO CONTROLS THE CFPB COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS, AND ACTS AS JUDGE, JURY AND APPELLATE. IT IS “EMPOWERED” TO CLOSE "ANY CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AT ANY TIME”, WITHOUT THE CONCURRENCE OF EITHER CFPB OR THE CONSUMER. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 60
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. VI. CONSUMERS FILING CFPB ALL COMPLAINTS ARE ONLY AWARDED MONETARY RELIEF 6. 7% OF THE TIME, AND “THE COMPANY” WINS 81% OF ALL COMPLAINTS, AND CAN CLOSES CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WITH GENERIC, NON-SPECIFIC EXPLANATIONS THAT IN MANY INSTANCES ARE NOT RELATED TO THE COMPLAINT FILED BY THE CONSUMER. VII. THE FINAL DISPOSITION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB, AND THEN REFERRED TO ANOTHER FEDERAL OR STATE AGENCY ARE NOT TRACKED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE, AND THERE IS NO AWARENESS OF FINAL RESOLUTION. VIII. THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS, THAT CONSUMERS FILING CFPB MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS ARE ONLY AWARDED MONETARY RELIEF BY "THE COMPANY" 2. 6% OF THE TIME; AND “THE COMPANY” CLOSES 91% OF ALL MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS WITH GENERIC, MEANINGLESS, AND NON-SPECIFIC EXPLANATIONS. (THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT ONE LEADING MORTGAGE SERVICER, WITH MORE THAN SIXTY-THREE HUNDRED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, “WON” 96. 2% OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND ONLY AWARDED 13 CONSUMERS MONETARY RELIEF. IX. THERE IS NO SPECIAL TRACKING FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH OTHER FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES, AND “THE COMPANY” ARBITRATION RESPONSE IS NEVER FORWARDED TO THESE REFERRING AGENCIES. X. THERE IS NO FORMAL DISPUTE, ESCALATION, OR REFERRAL PROCESSES FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB, (OR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND THEN REFERRED TO CFPB). ARBITRATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB : "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 61
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. XI. IF “THE COMPANY” BELIEVES THAT A NEW CFPB COMPLAINT IS A DUPLICATE OF A PREVIOUSLY FILED COMPLAINT, IT CAN DENY THE NEW CONSUMER COMPLAINT WITHOUT RECOURSE, EVEN IF IT INCLUDES NEW, UNDISCLOSED EVIDENCE. XII. COMPLAINTS REFERRED BY OTHER AGENCIES ARE NOT REVIEWED BY CFPB, BEFORE BEING FORWARDED TO “THE COMPANY”. THEY ARE ASSIGNED THE MOST APPROPRIATE PRODUCT AND ISSUE CODES AND FORWARDED AS IS, TO “THE COMPANY”. (IN SOME INSTANCES, THE “FORMATTED” COMPLAINT FORM FORWARDED BY THE REFERRING AGENCY IS SENT TO “THE COMPANY”. XIII. “THE COMPANY” IS NOT REQUIRED TO PUBLICLY-SHARE ITS CONSUMER COMPLAINT RESPONSES, AND CAN REQUEST THAT CFPB NOT INCLUDE SELECTED COMPLAINTS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE; THIS DEPRIVES BOTH CONSUMERS AND REGULATORY AGENCIES OF THIS VITALLY-IMPORTANT COMPLAINT-RESOLUTION INFORMATION. XIV. “THE COMPANY” IS NOT REQUIRED TO SEND A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO CFPB REGARDING ITS ARBITRATION DECISION; AND IS ONLY REQUIRED TO SEND CFPB ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CLOSING RESPONSES: 1. ) CLOSE, 2. ) CLOSE WITH EXPLANATION, 3. ) CLOSE WITH MONETARY RELIEF, OR; 4) CLOSED WITHOUT NON-MONETARY RELIEF. XV. “THE COMPANY” RESPONSES TO CONSUMER COMPLAINTS REFERRED TO CFPB BY OTHER COMPLAINT AGENCIES, ARE NOT SHARED WITH THE REFERRING AGENCIES, OR ANY OTHER FEDERAL OR STATE COMPLAINT AGENCIES. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 62
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. XVI. “ENFORCING LAWS THAT OUTLAW DISCRIMINATION IN CONSUMER FINANCE” IS ONE OF THE PRIMARY ACCOUNTABILITIES ASSIGNED TO CFPB BY THE DODD-FRANK WALL STREET REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT; BUT OF THE EIGHTEEN PRODUCTS, 47 SUBPRODUCTS, 96 ISSUES, AND 68 SUB-ISSUES, NONE MAKES ANY MENTION OF RACE, ETHNICITY, RELIGION, AGE OR OTHER FORMS OF DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES. (THUS EVEN IF THIS INFORMATION IS CAPTURED, IT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE CONSUMER PORTAL, COMPANY PORTAL, OR THE CFPB DATABASE, AND IS NOT USED BY “THE COMPANY” DURING THE COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION PROCESS. ) XVII. CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FLAGGED AS DUPLICATES BY “THE COMPANY” ARE DISCARDED BY THE CFPB COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT WITHOUT FURTHER INVESTIGATION. XVIII. THE ONLY DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES CONTAINED IN THE CFPB DATABASE ARE: A. ) OLDER AMERICANS, B. ) SERVICEMEMBERS, AND C. ) OLDER SERVICEMEMBERS; HOWEVER, THERE IS NO SPECIAL ‘PROCESSING’ FOR THESE THREE DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES; AND “THE COMPANY”, CLOSED-RESPONSES FOR THESE THREE DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES, ARE VIRTUALLY THE SAME AS CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WITHOUT THESE “TAGS”. XIX. OTHER CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPEAR OBLIVIOUS THE MAJOR FLAWS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, AND CONTINUE TO “BLINDLY THROW CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE WALL INTO THE CFPB ABYSS”. XX. CFPB DOES NOT PUBLISH ANNUAL OR SUMMARY REPORTS OF COMPLAINT RESOLUTIONS BY: COMPANY, PRODUCTS, ISSUES, OR ANY OTHER CATEGORY. THESE TYPE REPORTS WOULD HELP CONSUMERS, AND REGULATORY AGENCIES IDENTIFY COMPANIES WITH UNEXPLAINED YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASES IN CFPB COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 63
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. XXI. CFPB DOES NOT PUBLISH ANNUAL REPORTS OF RESPONSES BY: COMPANY, PRODUCTS, ISSUES, OR ANY OTHER CATEGORY. THESE REPORTS HELP CONSUMERS, AND REGULATORY AGENCIES IDENTIFY COMPANIES WITH UNEXPLAINED COMPLAINT INCREASES, SUCH AS THE THOSE THAT OCCURRED IN 14 OF THE TOP 20 COMPANIES. XXII. CFPB DOES NOT PUBLISH REPORTS THAT IDENTIFY COMPANIES, WHO IGNORE, AND/OR REFUSE TO RESPOND TO CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. XXIII. THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS INCLUDES AN INTERNAL ENFORCEMENT DEPARTMENT, BUT THE CFPB DATABASE DOES NOT IDENTIFY THE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS REFERRED TO THIS AGENCY. AS SHOWN BELOW, ONLY TWO (2) COMPLAINTS WERE REFERRED TO THIS INTERNAL AGENCY BY CFPB. XXIV. CFPB REFERRED 21, 198 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017, BUT THERE IS NO INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE DATABASE REGARDING THE FINAL RESOLUTION OF THESE REFERRALS. XXV. CFPB DOES NOT PUBLISH SUMMARY REPORTS SHOWING THE FINAL RESOLUTION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ALLEGING CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES, SUCH AS IDENTITY THEFT, FRAUD, AND EMBEZZLEMENT. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 64
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. XXVI. COMPLAINT NARRATIVES APPENDED TO CFPB COMPLAINT CREATED VIA “THE CONSUMER PORTAL” ARE FORWARDED TO “THE COMPANY” BUT THERE IS NOTHING IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS THAT REQUIRES THESE NARRATIVES TO BE INCLUDED IN THE COMPANY’S COMPLAINT PROCESS REVIEW AND ADJUDICATION PROCEDURES. XXVII. CFBP DOES NOT PUBLISH ANNUAL TREND ANALYSIS REPORTS DELINEATING CFPB COMPLAINTS PRODUCTS SUCH AS DEBT COLLECTION, MONEY TRANSFER, PAYDAY LOAN, AND PREPAID CARD. XXVIII. THE “COMPANY PORTAL” WHICH IS USED TO INTERCONNECT CFPB WITH THE COMPANY PROVIDES THE COMPANY WITH REAL-TIME, INTERACTIVE ACCESS TO CFPB COMPLAINT DATA, BUT THE CONSUMER IS NEVER INFORMED OF ITS EXISTENCE, AND TOLD WHAT PORTIONS OF HIS, OR HER, COMPLAINT DATA CAN BE ACCESSED BY “THE COMPANY”. XXIX. THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINS 10, 022 CONSUMER NARRATIVES, ALL OF WHICH WERE DISPUTED BY CONSUMERS. ALL NARRATIVES WERE SUBMITTED VIA THE WEB, AND ALL BUT 22 OF THESE NARRATIVES WERE IN RESPONSES TO COMPLAINTS CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY” WITH A “CLOSE WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE. XXX. THE CFPB WEBSITE TOUTED THE SPECTACULAR SUCCESSES OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS BUT PROVIDED NO MECHANISM FOR MEASURING THE CONSUMER’S SATISFACTION (OR LACK THEREOF) OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 65
THIRTY-FIVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND CFPB DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. XXXI. COMPLAINT NARRATIVES APPENDED TO CFPB COMPLAINT CREATED VIA “THE CONSUMER PORTAL” ARE FORWARDED TO “THE COMPANY” BUT THERE IS NOTHING IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS THAT REQUIRES THESE NARRATIVES TO BE INCLUDED IN THE COMPANY’S COMPLAINT PROCESS REVIEW AND/OR ADJUDICATION PROCEDURES. XXXII. CFBP DOES NOT PUBLISH ANNUAL TREND ANALYSIS REPORTS DELINEATING CFPB COMPLAINTS PRODUCTS SUCH AS DEBT COLLECTION, MONEY TRANSFER, PAYDAY LOAN, AND PREPAID CARD. XXXIII. THE “COMPANY PORTAL” WHICH IS USED TO INTERCONNECT CFPB WITH THE COMPANY PROVIDES THE COMPANY WITH REAL-TIME, INTERACTIVE ACCESS TO CFPB COMPLAINT DATA, BUT THE CONSUMER IS NEVER INFORMED OF ITS EXISTENCE, AND ARE TOLD WHAT COMPLAINT DATA IS SENT TO “THE COMPANY”, OR WHAT PORTIONS OF HIS (OR HER) COMPLAINT DATA CAN BE ACCESSED ONLINE BY “THE COMPANY”. XXXIV. THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINS 10, 022 CONSUMER NARRATIVES, ALL OF WHICH WERE DISPUTED BY CONSUMERS. ALL NARRATIVES WERE SUBMITTED VIA THE WEB, AND ALL BUT 22 OF THESE NARRATIVES WERE IN RESPONSES TO COMPLAINTS CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY” WITH A “CLOSE WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE. XXXV. THE CFPB WEBSITE TOUTED THE SPECTACULAR SUCCESSES OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS BUT PROVIDED NO MECHANISM FOR MEASURING THE CONSUMER’S SATISFACTION (OR LACK THEREOF) OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 66
NO DATE OF THE COMPLAINT ALLEGATION IS INCLUDED IN THE DATABASE, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE IF IT OCCURRED DOZENS OF TIMES DURING A THE CURRENT YEAR OR DOZENS OF TIME DURING A TEN-YEAR PERIOD. Description of Two Major Database Design Defects: The only two dates included in the Complaint database are the date upon which the Complaint was received, and the date sent to company. The most important date in any Complaint database is the “Date of alleged complaint”, and it is missing in the CFPB Complaint Database. Additionally, the Complaint Identification (ID) is not the Complaint Number assigned to the consumer complaint; thus, making it all but impossible for a consumer to find his (or her) Complaint in the CFPB Complaint Database. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 67
CFPB PERFORMANCE “REPORT CARD” COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 68
TOP-20 SUMMARY: BETWEEN JANUARY 2013 AND DECEMBER 2016, 14, 581 “CLOSED” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 7, 216 (49. 5%) OF THESE WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 69
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 482, 371 “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 300, 085 (62. 2%) OF THESE WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 70
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 40, 695 “CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 32, 464 (78. 8%) WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 71
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 80, 621 “CLOSED WITH NON-MONETARY RELIEF” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES”, AND 63, 646 (78. 9%) WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 72
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. THE FINAL DISPOSITION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB, AND THEN REFERRED TO ANOTHER FEDERAL OR STATE AGENCY ARE NOT TRACKED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. DESIGN DEFECT : AS OF APRIL 21, 2017, 21, 198 COMPLAINTS HAD BEEN REFERRED TO OTHER AGENCIES BY CFPB BUT THERE IS NO RECORD OF THE FINAL DISPOSITION OF ANY OF THESE COMPLAINTS IN THE CFPB DATABASE. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 73
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT CONSUMERS FILING MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS ARE ONLY AWARDED MONETARY RELIEF BY "THE COMPANY" 3. 0% OF THE TIME; AND THAT “THE COMPANY” CLOSES 90. 6% OF ALL MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS EITHER WITH NO EXPLANATIONS, OR WITH GENERIC, NON-SPECIFIC EXPLANATIONS. DESIGN DEFECT: MORTGAGES ARE THE LARGEST PRODUCT IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND REPRESENTS 29% OF ALL COMPLAINTS FILED BY CONSUMERS DISPUTED 22. 7% OF MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM "THE COMPANY"; ” WERE DISPUTED BY CONSUMERS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 74
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. THERE IS NO SPECIAL TRACKING FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH OTHER FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES, AND “THE COMPANY” ARBITRATION RESPONSE IS NEVER FORWARDED TO THESE REFERRING AGENCIES. DESIGN DEFECT: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES SUCH AS OCC, FDIC, FRB, AND DOJ HAVE CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES BUT THESE AGENCIES REFUSE TO ACCEPT JURISDICTION IN ALL FINANCE-RELATED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. THESE AGENCIES INFORM THE CONSUMERS SUBMITTING THESE CLAIMS THAT THEIR CLAIMS ARE NOT WITHIN THEIR JURISDICTION, BUT THAT THEY CAN BE ASSURED THAT ANOTHER, HIGHLY-COMPETENT FEDERAL AGENCIES WILL ENSURE THAT THEIR CLAIMS WILL BE REVIEWED, ADJUDICATED; AND IF NECESSARY, REFERRED TO A THIRD FEDERAL (OR STATE) AGENCY. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 75
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. THERE IS NO FORMAL DISPUTE, ESCALATION, OR REFERRAL PROCESSES FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB, (OR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND THEN REFERRED TO CFPB). DESIGN DEFECT: OTHER FEDERAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES SUCH AS THE OCC’S CONSUMER ASSISTANCE GROUP (CAG), HAVE DISPUTE AND/OR ESCALATION PROCEDURES THAT CAN BE USED IF THE CONSUMER DOES NOT AGREE WITH THE COMPANY’ S ADJUDICATION RESPONSE. HOWEVER, THE COMPLAINTS SHOWN BELOW WERE REFERRED TO BUT BECAUSE CFPB HAD NO DISPUTE PROCESS, THESE COMPLAINT WERE NEVER DISPUTED OR APPEALED. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 76
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. THE ONLY DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES CONTAINED IN THE CFPB DATABASE ARE: A. ) OLDER AMERICANS, B. ) SERVICEMEMBERS, AND C. ) OLDER SERVICEMEMBERS; HOWEVER, THERE IS NO SPECIAL ‘PROCESSING’ FOR THESE THREE DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES; AND “THE COMPANY”, CLOSED-RESPONSES FOR THESE THREE DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES, ARE VIRTUALLY THE SAME AS CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WITHOUT THESE “TAGS”. DESIGN FLAW: NO APPRECIABLE DIFFERENCES IN “THE COMPANY” RESPONSES TO CFPB COMPLAINTS RECEIVED FROM TAGGED-CATEGORIES, AND A LARGER PERCENT OF TAGGEDCONSUMERS DISPUTED “THE COMPANY” CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSES. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 77
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. OTHER CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCIES WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPEAR OBLIVIOUS THE MAJOR FLAWS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, AS THE CONTINUED TO IRRATIONALLY THROW 138, 008 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY THEIR AGENCY “OVER THE WALL INTO THE CFPB ABYSS”. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 78
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 79
DISTRIBUTION OF 2011 THROUGH 2017 COMPLAINT ISSUES. CLICK FOLLOWING LINK TO SEE DESCRIPTIONS OF ISSUES AND SUB-ISSUES: file: ///D: /My. Documents. SSD/Chase/Claim%20 for%20 Sue%20 Barnes/CFPB%20 Complaint%20 Process/Issues%20 and%20 Sub-Issues/Interpreting%20 Issues%20 and%20 Sub-Issues. pdf COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 80
59. 7% OF THE 743, 427 COMPLAINTS FILED BY CFPB WERE BLANK (NO SUB-ISSUE). COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 81
“SELECTED REASONS WHY THE CURRENT CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS DOESN’T WORK!” q MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF ALL CFPB COMPLAINTS ARE “CLOSED WITHOUT EXPLANATION” OR “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION”, AND CONSUMERS ARE AWARDED “MONETARY RELIEF ONLY 6. 7% OF THE TIME, q THERE IS NO CONSUMER DISPUTES/APPEALS FOR COMPLAINTS ARBITRATION AND CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY”, q CFPB BLINDLY RUBBER-STAMPS “THE COMPANY” ARBITRATON/CLOSED RESPONSES, q IT IS ESTIMATED THAT AS MANY AS TEN PERCENT OF ALL CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS INCLUDES DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES; YET CFPB HAS NEVER FILED A FORMAL DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT OF ANY TYPE, ON BEHALF OF ANY CONSUMER, q OFFENDING COMPANIES ARE NEVER IDENTIFIED, AND EVEN COMPANIES WHO REFUSE TO RESPONSE TO CFPB COMPLAINTS ARE NOT FINED OR CENSURED, q “THE COMPANY” CAN ARBITRAILY REQUEST THAT SELECTED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS NOT BE PUBLISHED IN THE CFPB DATABASE, q COMPANIES CAN SEPECIFY THAT NONE OF THEIR COMPLAINT RESPONSES TO BE MADE PUBLIC, q CONSUMER CANNOT RE-FILE COMPLAINT REJECTED BY “THE COMPANY” WITH ANOTHER FEDERAL (OR STATE) COMPLAINT AGENCY, BECAUSE THE COMPANY’S ARBITRATON/CLOSED RESPONSE WAS PREVIOUSLY-APPROVED, AND SANCTIONED BY CFPB, q THERE IS NO WAY TO DETERMINE IF OTHER CONSUMERS HAVE FILED SIMILAR (OR EVEN IDENTICAL) COMPLAINTS AGAINST “THE COMPANY” BECAUSE THE DESIGN FLAWS IN THE CFPB DATABASE, AND; q CIVIL-ACTION, AND CLASS-ACTION ATTORNEYS ARE RELUCTANT TO ACCEPT CONSUMER COMPLAINTS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY FILED BY CFPB , BECAUSE OF THE EXISTANCE OF CFPB’S “KISS-OF-DEATH” APPROVAL OF “THE COMPANY” ARBITRATION/CLOSED RESPONSE. q THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE INCLUDES A FIELD FOR PUBLIC RESPONSES, WHICH IS RARELY USED, BUT DOES NOT HAVE A FIELD FOR THE “EXPLANATION” IN THE CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION RESPONSE WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF COMPLAINT RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM THE COMPANY. Click HERE to view a much more detail list of 35 reasons why the CFPB Complaint Process does not work. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 82
ONE OF THE CENTER-PIECES OF THE DODD-FRANK ACT WAS THE CREATION A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY THAT COULD ASSIST CONSUMERS DURING THE COMPLAINT RESOLUTION DUSPUTE PROCESS; HOWEVER, BASED ON THE TABLE SHOWN BELOW, IT IS UNLIKELY THAT ANY OF THE 82, 260 COMPLAINTS SHOWN IN THIS TABLE WERE EVER ADJUDICATED BY CFPB. AFTER MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS IN EXISTANCE; THE CURRENT CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: WHICH IS LIKELY, “THE GREATEST CONSUMER PROTECTION FRAUD EVER PERPETRATED UPON THE AMERICAN CONSUMERS”, IS STILL IN OPERATION, AND IS CURRENTLY VIEWED AS AN UNPARALLELED SUCCESS-STORY BY MANY OTHER FEDERAL CONSUMER-COMPLAINT AGENCIES. THESE AGENCIES CONTINUE TO, “BLINDLY” AND “UNCEROMONIOUSLY”: “THROW CONSUMER COMPLAINTS SUBMITTED TO THEIR AGENCIES, OVER THE WALL TO INTO THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS ABYSS”. THE FOLLOWING TABLE INCLUDES A FIVE-YEAR SUMMARY OF THE, A. ) CFPB COMPLAINTS, B. ) DISPUTED-COMPLAINTS, AND C. ) DISPUTED-COMPLAINTS THAT WERE REFERRED FROM OTHER FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES. Click here to see details analysis complaints/disputes of Top-20 companies. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 83
“COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN FLAWS” COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN FLAWS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS WHICH ALLOWS “THE COMPANY” TO CONTROL THE COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS, AND TO CLOSE ALL CFPB COMPLAINTS, WITHOUT RECOURSE. THESE DESIGN FLAWS POTENTIALLY DEPRIVED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CONSUMERS, OF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MONETARY RELIEF DURING THE PAST SEVEN YEARS! CFPB WAS AUTHORIZED TO REFER THESE COMPLAINTS TO ITS OWN ENFORCEMENT UNIT, OR OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION; HOWEVER, AS SHOWN BELOW, CFPB SENT 6, 585 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ALLEGING, IDENTITY THEFT, FRAUD, OR EMBEZZLEMENT TO “THE COMPANY” FOR ARBITRATION, AND MORE THAN TWELVE HUNDRED OF THE CLOSED RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM “THE COMPANY” WERE DISPUTED BY THE CONSUMER. REGRETTABLY, IT IS UNLIKELY THAT ANY OF TH 1, 243 CONSUMERS EVER RECEIVE ANY FURTHER MEDIATION OF THEIR DISPUTED-COMPLAINTS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 84
TOP-20 SUMMARY: FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2016, THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT 20 COMPANIES RECEIVED NEARLY ONE-THIRD 621, 441 (62. 5%) OF THE 743, 427 CFPB COMPLAINTS, AND THE REMAINING 4, 148 COMPANIES, RECEIVED 121, 986 CFPB COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 85
“TOP-20 COMPANIES HAVE NO FEAR OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. ” TOP-20 SUMMARY: FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2016, THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT 20 COMPANIES RECEIVED NEARLY TWO-THIRDS (62. 5%) OF THE 621, 441 CFPB COMPLAINTS, AND THE REMAINING 4, 148 COMPANIES, RECEIVED 121, 986 CFPB COMPLAINTS (Continued) THIS HUGE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE TOP-20 COMPANIES, AND THE REMAINING 4, 148, IS FURTHER DISTORTED BY THE FACT THAT ALL TWENTY OF THESE COMPANIES, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF: BANK OF AMERICA, OCWEN, PNC BANK NA, AND HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS, INC. ; RECEIVED MORE CFPB COMPLAINTS IN 2016, THAN THEY DID IN 2015. CLEARLY, THERE WAS “NO FEAR” OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS BY ANY OF THE TOP-20 COMPANIES, AND IN FACT, SOME OF THESE AND OTHER LARGE COMPANIES MAY HAVE “WELCOMED THE CFPB COMPLAINTS THEY RECEIVED”, BECAUSE: q THEY CONTROLLED THE CFPB COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS, AND COULD CLOSED COMPLAINTS WITHOUT FEAR OF RETRIBUTION BY EITHER CFPB OR ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT CONSUMER COMPLAINT/CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY, AND; q ONCE CLOSED, CFPB COMPLAINTS ARE VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BE RE-OPENED, OR TO BE RE-FILED, BECAUSE THE COMPANY PORTAL PROVIDES “THE COMPANY” WITH A COMPLAINT ARCHIVE WHICH CONTAINS ALL PREVIOUSLY CLOSED COMPLAINTS, AS WELL AS ANY PREVIOUSLY REJECTED DUPLICATE COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 86
“TOP-20 COMPANIES HAVE NO FEAR OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. ” TOP-20 SUMMARY: FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2016, THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT 20 COMPANIES RECEIVED NEARLY ONE-THIRD (62. 5%) OF THE 621, 441 CFPB COMPLAINTS, AND THE REMAINING 4, 148 COMPANIES, RECEIVED 121, 986 CFPB COMPLAINTS. (Continued) q AS OPPOSED TO OTHER GOVERNMENT CONSUMER COMPLAINT PROCESSES, THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS DOES NOT HAVE A DISPUTE OR ESCALATION OPTION; AND THUS, WHEN A CFPB COMPLAINT IS CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY”, IT IS EFFECTIVELY “DEAD”. TO EMPHASIZE THIS POINT: CONSUMERS WHO ATTEMPT TO SEEK RELIEF VIA “THE COURTS”, FACE A FORMIDABLE, UP-HILL BATTLE, BECAUSE “THE COMPANY” CAN USE THE CFPB’S “KISS OF DEATH” APPROVAL OF ITS CLOSING RESPONSE AS PART OF ITS DEFENSE. GIVEN THE ABOVE ARGUMENTS, IT IS HIGHLY-PROBABLE THAT CONSUMERS WOULD RECEIVE THE SAME, OR BETTER RESULTS, IF THEY HAD FILED THEIR COMPLAINTS DIRECTLY WITH THE COMPANY, AND AVOIDED CONTAMINATING THEIR COMPLAINT WITH THE DREADED CFPB “KISS OF DEATH” APPROVAL OF THE COMPANY’S RESPONSE. CLICK FOLLOWING LINKS TO VIEW ANALYSIS OF TOP-20 CLOSED RESPONSES: Closed with Explanation Closed with Monetary Relief Closed without Monetary Relief Next Slide COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 87
COMPANY-CENTRIC CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) COMPLAINT PROCESS SUMMARY THE CFPB WEBSITE AT: HTTPS: //WWW. CONSUMERFINANCE. GOV/, CLAIMS THAT CURRENT CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS HAS BEEN AN UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS, SINCE IT WAS IMPLEMENTED ON DECEMBER 1, 2011; HOWEVER, THE COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THIS PROCESS, IN COMBINATION, WITH THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE, REVEALS A MUCH DIFFERENT, AND DISTURBING PERSPECTIVE OF THIS FLAWED COMPLAINT-RESOLUTION PROCESS. Can the current CFPB Complaint Process be saved? COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 88
CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) OR COMPANY FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB) THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO FOR CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: DURING THE PAST SEVEN YEARS, THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS PROVIDED CONSUMERS WITH A GOVERNMENT-MANAGED, CONSUMER COMPLAINT REPOSITORY, AND A SEAMLESS-CONDUIT FOR SENDING FINANCIAL-RELATED COMPLAINTS TO “THE COMPANY” FOR ARBITRATION AND RESOLUTION. THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO FOR CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: CFPB DENIED KEY ELEMENTS OF “DUE PROCESS” TO THE MORE THAN ONE MILLION CONSUMERS WHO FILED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS VIA THE FLAWED CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. VIRTUALLY ALL OF THESE CONSUMERS WERE LED TO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAD SUBMITTED ACTIONABLE COMPLAINT TO A US GOVERNMENT AGENCY, THAT WOULD ASSIST THEM IN OBTAINING A FAIR, EQUITABLE RESOLUTION TO THEIR FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS. AT NO TIME WERE THESE CONSUMERS INFORMED THAT THEIR COMPLAINTS WOULD BE ARBITRATED SOLELY BY “THE COMPANY”; WITHOUT ANY ACTIVE PARTICIPATION BY CFPB. HAD THESE CONSUMERS BEEN INFORMED THAT“THE COMPANY” WOULD ACT AS “JUDGE, JURY, AND APPELLATE” FOR THEIR COMPLAINTS; AND THAT CFPB WOULD NEVER REVIEW A SINGLE ARBITRATION RESPONSE FROM “THE COMPANY”, NONE WOULD HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT VIA THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. BASED UPON THE CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION, THE C IN CFPB SHOULD STAND FOR “COMPANY” RATHER THAN “CONSUMER”. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 89
UNSUBSTANTIATATED: “STANDING UP FOR YOU” CLAIMS BY CFPB! THE FOLLOWING GRAPHIC IS FOUND ON THE HOME PAGE OF THE CFPB WEBSITE; AND CLAIMS THAT CFPB HAS PROVIDED 12. 4 BILLION DOLLARS IN RELIEF TO 31 MILLION CONSUMERS, AND THAT CFPB HAS HANDLED MORE THAN 1. 5 MILLION COMPLAINTS; AND THAT 97% OF ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS WERE RESPONDED TO IN A “TIMELY MANNER”. HOWEVER, IT FAILS TO MENTION THAT MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF THESE COMPLAINTS, WHICH WERE RESPONDED TO IN A “TIMELY MANNER”, RECEIVED “CLOSED” OR “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” RESPONSES FROM “THE COMPANY”, AND LESS THAN SEVEN PERCENT WERE “CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF”; AND FURTHER, THAT THERE WAS NO REVIEW, DISPUTE, APPEAL, OR ESCALATION OF ANY THE 743, 427 CFPB COMPLAINTS ARBITRATED BY “THE COMPANY” PRIOR TO MARCH 2017! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 90
ACTUAL CFPB “STANDING UP FOR YOU” RESULTS! THE FOLLOWING TABLES SHOWS THE ACTUAL COMPANY RESPONSES (TOTALS AND PERCENTAGES) TO 743, 427 CFPB COMPLAINTS FILED BETWEEN DECEMBER 2011 AND APRIL 24, 2017. THESE TABLES SHOW THAT “THE COMPANY” WINS EIGHTY PERCENT OF ALL CFPB COMPLAINTS, AND LOSE TWENTY PERCENT OF COMPLAINTS FILED VIA CFPB. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT “THE COMPANY” RESPONSES THAT INCLUDED MONETARY RELIEF WAS LESS THAN 7%! COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 91
CFPB WEBSITE CLAIMS: “SUBMITTING A COMPLAINT HELP OTHERS”. AS THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS, ONLY 5. 9% OF RESPONSES FROM “THE COMPANY” ARE SHARED PUBLICLY; AND SOME LARGE NATIONAL BANKS, AND FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES DO NOT SHARE ANY OF THEIR RESPONSES PUBLICLY. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 92
. CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS WERE EXPLOITED BY JPMORGAN CHASE AND COMPANY DURING THE PERIOD OF 2013 AND 2017. The 4, 854 Disputed Non-Mortgage Complaints and 3, 066 Disputed Mortgage Complaints were Closed with “NO REVIEW or RE-ADJUDICATION by CFPB!” Additionally, because of the CFPB “KISS OF DEATH” Approval of the closing of these complaints, they cannot be re-filed with any other federal or state consumer Complaint agency. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 93
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS AND DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS WERE EXPLOITED BY SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC. (SPS) DURING THE PERIOD OF 2013 AND 2017. The 93 Disputed Non-Mortgage Complaints and 1, 307 Disputed Mortgage Complaints were Closed with “NO REVIEW or RE-ADJUDICATION by CFPB!” Additionally, because of the CFPB “KISS OF DEATH” Approval of the closing of these complaints, they cannot be re-filed with any other federal or state consumer Complaint agency. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 94
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. Note List of Available Public Responses: Company believes Complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company. Company believes Complaint is the result of an isolated error. Company believes Complaint relates to a discontinued policy or procedure. Company believes Complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers. Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law. Company believes the Complaint is the result of a misunderstanding. Company can't verify or dispute the facts in the complaint. Company chooses not to provide a public response. Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint. Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response. (Blank) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 95
SAVING THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 96
How the Existing, Company-Centric CFPB Complaint Process “Really” Works: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Consumer files a Complaint with CFPB or some other government agency that refers Complaint to CFPB, but CFPB Reviewer does not ensures that the Complaint is complete, and the proper “Issue and Sub-Issue is selected; additionally, the reviewer does not review the Complaint for regulatory issues and/or criminal violations. CFPB sends the consumer Complaint along with supporting documentation to “The Company” using the “Company Portal”*. “The Company” reviews the Complaint and makes an arbitration decision, and then sends one of the following Closed Responses to CFPB via the Company Portal. Closed response include: i. Closed, ii. Closed with Explanation, iii. Closed with Monetary Relief, and; iv. Closed without Monetary Relief. The Company can optionally send a public response to CFPB and can specify whether or not the public response can be included in the CFPB Complaint Database. After receiving the Closed Response from “The Company, CFPB “blindly rubber-stamp and approves” the Closed Response, close the Complaint, and updates CFPB Complaint Database. ) The Company” communicates its arbitration decision to the consumers via mail and the Complaint is closed by CFPB. *This real-time, information-sharing activity is accomplished via a CFPB-provided “Company Portal”, which inter-connect CFPB and “The Company”. The Portal includes an “information dashboard”, a potpourri of value-added apps, and archived consumer complaints. It also includes a streamlined, “one-button” Complaint Response Generator and a “multiple -choice-type” list of Public Responses, from which “The Company“ can: q Select a canned response that is publicly shared, q Select a canned response that is only sent to CFPB and is not publicly shared, or; q Not select a public response, by leaving the public response field blank 97
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED CHANGES TO CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS FROM THE CONSUMER AND COMPANY PROSPECTIVES, THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS WOULD OPERATE THE SAME AS IT CURRENTLY DOES TODAY, WITH THE EXCEPTION THAT AN ACTIONABLE CONSUMER COMPLAINT DISPUTE PROCESS INVOLVING CFPB AND OTHER FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WOULD BE IMPLEMENTED. IF THE CONSUMER ACCEPTS THE COMPANY RESPONSES, THEN THE IS CLOSED, CFPB ARCHIVES COMPLAINT RECORD, AND NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUIRED BY EITHER CFPB OR THE COMPANY. HOWEVER, IF THE CONSUMER DOES NOT ACCEPT “THE COMPANY” RESPONSE, THEN: 1. CONSUMER IS BE GIVE AN GIVEN THE OPTION TO “FORMALLY” DISPUTE THE COMPANY’S RESPONSE, INCLUDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE A DISPUTE NARRATIVE THAT WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY BE SHARED WITH “THE COMPANY”, AND IT WOULD HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MODIFY IT INITIAL RESPONSE OR REAFFIRMED IT BY ALLOWING IT TO REMAIN THE SAME. 2. IF THE CONSUMER STILL DISPUTES THE COMPANY’S RE-ADJUDICATION OF THE COMPLAINT, CFPB WOULD HAVE THE OPTION OF: q ALLOWING DISPUTED COMPLAINT TO BE REVIEWED BY ITS INTERNAL CFPB ENFORCEMENT UNIT, OR; q REFERRING THE DISPUTED COMPLAINT ALONG WITH THE COMPANY RESPONSE VIA “AN INTERAGENCY PORTAL” TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FEDERAL AGENCIES: ü Civil Rights Division. ü Housing & Civil Enforcement. ü OCC - Consumer Assistance Group. ü FTC – Complaint Assistant. ü HUD – Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. ü CFPB Enforcement. q FINALLY, THE AGENCY TO WHICH CFPB ROUTED THE REFERRED DISPUTE WOULD RESPOND TO CFPB, WOULD THEN INFORM THE CONSUMER AND THE COMPANY OF THE FINAL RESOLUTION OF THE DISPUTED COMPLAINT. 98
Name of Database Field CURRENT “COMPANY-CENTRIC” CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE Description of Database Field Example of Database Field and/or Poor Design Date Received Product Sub-Product Issue Sub-Issue Consumer Complaint Narrative Company Public Response Company State ZIP Code Tags Consumer Consent Provided? Submitted Via Date Sent To Company Dates CFPB Complaint Received. Complaint Product Name. Complaint Sub-Product Name Complaint Issue Name. Complaint Sub-Issue Name. . Complaint Narrative (only for Web Complaints Company Public Response (Optional). Parent Company Name. State in which Consumer Complaint Originated. Zip Code in which Consumer Complaint Originated. . Demographic Tags. Consent provided to Publish Complaint in Database. Originate of Consumer Complaint. Date Consumer Complaint Placed on Company Portal. Company Response To Consumer Company Closed Response Sent to Consumer. Timely Response? Consumer Disputed? Complaint ID Was Timely Response Received from Company. Did Consumer Dispute Response. Complaint Identification Number. Date (mm/dd/yyyy) Product such as Mortgage or Payday Loan. Yes or No. Account Status, Account Terms, Can’t Contact Lender, …. Link to List of Sub-Products. Link to List of Issues and Sub-Issues. Expanded Sub-Issues, e. g. , Consumer Demographics. Same as description in Consumer Portal. Monetary value of Complaint expressed in dollars. Replaces public response (no blanks allowed. ) Service Member, Older American or Older Service Member. Company Business United Named in CFPB Complaint. Mail, Fax, Phone, Email, Referral from Other Agency or Web. Date (mm/dd/yyyy) Close, Close w/Explanation, Close with Monetary Relief or Closed with no Monetary Relief. Yes or No Answer but no mm/dd/yyyy when response Received. Dispute Option Discontinued April 2017. Complaint ID Different from CFPB Complaint Number. 99
PROPOSED “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE NAME OF DATABASE FIELD DESCRIPTION OF DATABASE FIELD INFORMATION CONTAINED IN DATABASE FIELD Year Complaints: January 1 to December 31 Year (yyyy) Date reviewed by CFPB Dates Complaint Received and/or Reviewed. Date (mm/dd/yyyy) Date of Incident Date Incident Occurred. Date (mm/dd/yyyy) Company Portal Available CFPB Company Portal. Yes or No. PRODUCT Name of Product. Link to List of Products. SUB-PRODUCT Name of Sub-Products. Link to List of Sub-Products. ISSUES Name of Issue. Link to List of Issues and Sub-Issues. SUB-ISSUES Name of Sub-Issues. Expanded Sub-Issues, e. g. , Consumer Demographics. Consumer Complaint Description Text from CFPB Complaint form. Same as description in Consumer Portal. Consumer Complaint Valuation Estimated monetary value of complaint Monetary value of Complaint expressed in dollars. Company adjudication explanation to Complaint. Replaces public response (no blanks allowed. ) COMPANY Company Name. Company/Corporate Name. Company Business United Named in CFPB Complaint. MSA/MD Consumer MSA/MD Number. MSA/MD. STATE CODE Consumer State Code. ZIP-CODE Consumer Zip Code. MSA/MD Metropolitan Statistical Area/Metropolitan Division. Racial Category HMDA-Racial Category/Not-Specified Ethnicity HMDA-Ethnic Designation/Not Specified Gender Male/Female/Not-Specified Age/Not-Specified CONSUMER CONSENT PROVIDED? Consumer Consented to Share Complaint? Yes or No. SUBMITTED VIA How Complaint Submitted. Email, Fax, Phone, Postal Mail, Referral or Web. Referred from Agency Name Referring Agency Name (and optional address). Date Placed on Company Portal Date Complaint Placed Company Portal. Date (mm/dd/yyyy). COMPANY RESPONSE TO CONSUMER 100
SAVING THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODEL. (Step 1 of 5). PROPOSED CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: Complaints 1. CFPB receives consumer complaints via fax, phone, postal mail, Email, referral from other agency or web. 2. CFPB edits and formats the Consumer Complaint; and assigned it to a Product Category, and one of the Complaint Issues defined in CFPB Complaint Process. 3. Reviews Complaint and add “flags” possible ECOA, Criminal and Discrimination Violations as Sub-Issues. 4. CFPB places “full copy” of Complaint and Attachments on both the Company Portal and the Consumer Portal. (No archived Complaint Histories Stored on Company Portal UNLESS an archive of this Company’s Reponses to same type complaints from other consumers is placed on the Consumer Portal. ) 5. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends Adjudication Response to CFPB. Company must include Adjudication Explanation (Previously known as Public Response) in Response Sent to CFPB. 6. CFPB “does not review the Company Adjudication Response”, unless sub-issue field is flagged as possible ECOA, Criminal or Discrimination violation. 7. CFPB sends the Company’s Adjudication Response to the consumer along with a copy of the Complaint that was sent to the Company. 8. Consumer can either Accept Company’s Complaint Adjudication or can File a Formal Dispute; which CFPB would “always” refers to the appropriate Federal Enforcement Agency. 9. Final Referred and/or Disputed Arbitration Responses received from other Federal Agencies are placed in the CFPB Complaint Database and the Complaint is Closed and Archived. Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and “Formats” Consumer Complaint; and Assigns New CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Updates and Closes Complaint Record. Updates YTD Analytics and Archives Database. Refers Disputed and/or Flagged Complaints: q Civil Rights q Housing & Civil Enforcement q OCC q FTC q HUD q CFPB Enforcement CFPB “then” Review and Flag Complaints for ECOA, Criminal, and Discrimination Violations. Expanded CFPB Complaint Database Record. (Create, Continually Update, and Archive “after" Complaint Closed. ) CFPB Sends Company’s Response to Consumer. (Who can then “Formally Dispute Company Response. ) Same Complaint information placed on “both” Portals and no archived compliant history stored in Company Portal. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint and Attachments on both Company and Consumer Portals. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends approved or denied Response with Explanations to CFPB. ** “CONSUMER” RECEIVES A FAIR AND OBJECTIVE COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION! 101
SAVING THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODEL. (Step 2 of 5) PROPOSED CFPB ECOA, CRIMINAL AND/OR DISCRIMINATION REVIEW PROCESS* If CFPB Enforcement Department determines that the flagged Post-Adjudication receives were addressed in the Company’s Adjudication Response, the Complaint is returned to the CFPB Complaint Response Department which then sends the Company Adjudication Response and Explanation to consumer. If CFPB Enforcement Department determines that the flagged Post-Adjudication were not addressed in the Company’s Adjudication Response, they have the option of returning the consumer Complaint to the Company for further adjudication actions or referring Complaint to another federal enforcement agency for review. After CFPB Enforcement Department Review Processes are completed, CFPB approves Complaint Adjudication process and sends the Adjudication Response and Explanation to consumer and Closes Complaint. * The proposed consumer Complaint process does not require changes to CFPB it’s existing Consumer Complaint Resolution Processes with the exceptions of: a. ) Instituting a formal review process before Complaint is sent to Company, b. ) Performing a Post-Adjudication review process to ensure that consumer’s “flagged” ECOA, Criminal, and Discrimination issues were resolved by the Company, and c. ) Referring flagged and/or disputed Consumer Complaints to Enforcement Agencies; which will be provided with copies of Archived CFPB Database Record and Portal Snapshots. Complaints Received via: . q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and “Formats” Consumer Complaint; and Assigns New CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Updates and Closes Complaint Record. Updates YTD Analytics and Archives Database. Refers Disputed and/or Flagged Complaints: q Civil Rights q Housing & Civil Enforcement q OCC q FTC q HUD q CFPB Enforcement CFPB “then” Review and Flag Complaints for ECOA, Criminal, and Discrimination Violations. Expanded CFPB Complaint Database Record. (Create, Continually Update, and Archive “after" Complaint Closed. ) CFPB Sends Company’s Response to Consumer. (Who can then “Formally Dispute Company Response. ) Same information placed on “both” Portals, including archived compliant history. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint and Attachments on both Company and Consumer Portals. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends approved or denied Response with Explanations to CFPB. ** “CONSUMER” RECEIVES A FAIR AND OBJECTIVE Complaint ADJUDICATION! 102
SAVING THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODEL. (Step 3 of 5) REQUIRED* PUBLIC AND CFPB RESPONSES FOR ALL CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINTS: “The Company” believes Complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company. 1. “The Company” believes Complaint is the result of an isolated error. 2. Company believes Complaint relates to a discontinued policy or procedure. 3. “The Company” believes Complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers 4. “The Company” believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law 5. “The Company” believes the Complaint is the result of a misunderstanding 6. “The Company” can't verify or dispute the facts in the complaint 7. “The Company” chooses not to provide a public response 8. “The Company” disputes the facts presented in the complaint 9. “The Company” has responded to the consumer and CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response *No blank public responses should be allowed, because in cases where Complaints are Closed With Explanation, the Explanation should be the same as the Public Response. Between 2011 and 2017, 94. 06% of all company responses were either blank or “The Company” requested that they NOT be shared. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N. A. , the Nation’s largest bank, chose not to share any of it 41, 801 Complaint responses during this seven-year period!) Complaints Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and “Formats” Consumer Complaint; and Assigns New CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Updates and Closes Complaint Record. Updates YTD Analytics and Archives Database. Refers Disputed and/or Flagged Complaints: q Civil Rights q Housing & Civil Enforcement q OCC q FTC q HUD q CFPB Enforcement CFPB “then” Review and Flag Complaints for ECOA, Criminal, and Discrimination Violations. Expanded CFPB Complaint Database Record. (Create, Continually Update, and Archive “after" Complaint Closed. ) CFPB Sends Company’s Response to Consumer. (Who can then “Formally” Dispute Company Response. ) Same information placed on “both” Portals, including archived compliant history. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint and Attachments on both Company and Consumer Portals. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends approved or denied Response with Explanations to CFPB. ** “CONSUMER” RECEIVES A FAIR AND OBJECTIVE Complaint ADJUDICATION! 103
MIGRATING FROM CURRENT “COMPANY-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT MODEL TO THE “CONSUMER-CENTRIC” CONSUMER COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION MODEL. (Step 1 of 5) Complaints Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB Edits and Formats Consumer Complaint; and Assigns it a CFPB Product and Issue Codes. CFPB Approves and “Rubber-Stamps” Company’s Response, Close Complaint, and Updates Database. CFPB Places Consumer Complaint on Company Portal. Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends Close Responses to CFPB and Consumer. CFPB Database (Updated after ”The Company has responded and Consumer Complaint is closed. ) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! Complaints Received via: q Fax q Phone q Postal Mail q Email q Referral q Web CFPB “then” Edits and “Formats” Review and Flag Consumer Complaint; Complaints for and Assigns New ECOA, Criminal, Same CFPB Product and Discrimination Complaint Issue Violations. information placed Codes. on Consumer Portal and Company Expanded Portal. CFPB Complaint Updates and Places Consumer Database Record. Closes Complaint and (Create, Continually Record. Updates Attachments on Update, and YTD Analytics both Company and Archive “after" and Archives Consumer Complaint Database. Portals. Closed. ) Refers Disputed and/or Flagged Complaints to: q Civil Rights Div. q Housing & Civil Enforcement q OCC q FTC q HUD q CFPB Enforcement CFPB Sends Company’s Response to Consumer. (Who can then “Formally” Dispute Company Response. ) Company Adjudicates Complaint and Sends approved or denied Response with Explanations to CFPB. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB RECEIVES A FAIR, 104 OBJECTIVE, AND UNBIASISED COMPLAINT ADJUDICATION!
INTER-AGENCY CONSUMER COMPLAINT DISPUTE PROCESS. (Referral Process for Adjudicated Complaints that are Disputed by Consumers. ) “Inter-Agency Portals” Connection to Subject Area Experts within: q Civil Rights Division q Housing & Civil Enforcement q OCC Customer Assistant Group q FTC q HUD q CFPB Enforcement Group OCC Consumer Assistance Group DOJ Housing and Civil Enforcement Section DOJ Civil Rights Division FTC Complaint Assistant CFPB Consumer CF Complaint Dispute Process CFPB Enforcement Group CFPB Consumer Complaint Process and Database HUD Housing Enforcement Division DISPUTES FILED WITH CFPB: RECEIVES A FAIR, OBJECTIVE, AND UNBIASED COMPLAINT DISPUTE RESOLUTION BY FEDERAL DESIGNATED AGENCY! 105
SUMMARY OF STEP TO SAVE THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. EIGHT CHANGES REQUIRED TO SAVE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS 1. THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE MUST BE REDESIGN AND DEMOGRAPHIC-RELATED FIELDS SUCH AS RACE, ETHNICITY, GENDER, AND AGE SHOULD BE ADDED TO DATABASE. (CONSUMER WOULD HAVE THE OPTION OF CHOOSING WHETHER OR NOT TO PROVIDE ANY DEMOGRAPHIC FIELD. ) 2. A METICULOUS EVALUATION OF THE VALUE-ADDED FUNCTIONALITY NOW INCLUDED IN THE COMPANY PORTAL SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN IF FUNCTIONS ARE FOUND THAT GIVES THE COMPANY A MEASURABLE ADVANTAGE OVER THE CONSUMER, THEY SHOULD BE ELIMINATED. (ADDITIONALLY, CONSUMERS SHOULD BE INFORMED OF ALL-COMPLAINT-RELATED INFORMATION BENING PLACED ON THE COMPANY PORTAL. ) 3. THE SHARING OF PUBLIC RESPONSES WOULD BE REQUIRED, AND “BLANK” RESPONSE WOULD BE DISALLOWED. ADDITIONALLY, PUBLIC RESPONSES, WHICH ACKNOWLEDGE THAT “MISTAKES OR ERRORS, ” WHICH RESULTED IN THE COMPLAINT WERE MADE BY “THE COMPANY OR ITS EMPLOYEES. 4. THE LIST OF ISSUES WOULD BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE DISCRIMINATION-RELATED COMPLAINTS SUCH AS REDLINING, GHETTO-LENDING, SEXUAL HARRASSMENT, ETC. 5. CFPB ENFORCEMENT UNIT SOULD AUTOMATICALLY REVIEW COMPLAINTS ALLEGING VIOLATION OF ECOA AND OTHER CREDIT LAWS, ACTS, AND REGULATIONS WITHIN ITS JURISDICTION. 6. IMPLEMENTING AN ACTIONABLE, INTER-AGENCY COMPLAINT DISPUTE FUNCTION THAT COULD BE INVOKED BY CONSUMERS OR THE CFPB ENFORCEMENT UNIT. 7. CONSUMER COMPLAINTS REFERRED TO OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES WOULD REMAIN OPEN UNTIL A FINAL RESOLUTION IS RECEIVED FROM THE FEDERAL AGENCY TO WHICH IT WAS REFERRED. INTER-AGENCY REFERRALS AND RESPONSES WOULD REQUIRE THAT A “PORTAL” SUCH AS THE COMPANY PORTAL BE PROVIDED BY CFPB TO ALL MAJOR FEDERAL AGENCIES. 8. CONSUMERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO FILE COMPLAINTS AGAINST CFPB AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHO PURPOSELY VIOLATE CONSUMER FEDERAL PROTECTION LAWS, ACTS OR REGULATIONS. (THESE COMPLAINTS WOULD BE TRACKED IN THE CFPB DATABASE BUT WOULD BE AUTOMATICALLY REFERRED TO THE APPROPRIATE COMPLAINT AGENCY USING THE INTER-AGENCY COMPLAINT PORTAL. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 106
SEE THE “REST OF THE STORY” AT: http: //www. cfpbcomplaintmonitor. org COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 107
SIX-STEP CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS How the CFPB Complaint Process “Should” Work: 1. Complaint submitted You submit a Complaint about an issue you have with a company about a consumer financial product or service. You will receive email updates and can log in to track the status of your complaint. 2. Review and route We will review your Complaint for complexness and forward it Complaint and along with any documents you provide to the company* and work to get a response from them. If we find that another government agency would be better able to assist, we will forward your Complaint to them and let you know. 3. Company response The company reviews your complaint, communicates with you as needed, and reports back about the steps taken or that will be taken on the issue you identify in your complaint. 4. Complaint published We publish information about your complaint—such as the subject and date of the complaint—on our public Consumer Complaint Database. With your consent we also publish your description of what happened, after taking steps to remove personal information. 5. Consumer review We will let you know when the company responds. You’ll be able to review the company’s response and will have 15 days to either provide feedback about The Company’s Response, or formally-dispute “The Company Response Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 108
REVISED SIX STEP CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. (Continued) 6. CFPB Complaint Dispute Process After fifteen (15) days, if you chose to formally-dispute “The Company” Response, and you must formallydocument your dispute of “The Company” Close Response in writing and send it to CFPB. When CFPB received your formal dispute, and we will a) ensure that it is appended to the original CFPB Consumer Complaint you submitted, along with all attached documentation, and then referred your Complaint and The Company’s Response to the appropriate federal, state, or local consumer complaint/consumer protection agency. ” b) Flag your Complaint record in the CFPB Complaint Database as being reviewed. c) When the “final” adjudication of your Complaint is received by CFPB from the agency to which it was referred, we will inform you of the final decision, and then update your Complaint record in the CFPB Complaint Database. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 109
CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS OR DATABASE DESIGN DEFECTS. “THE COMPANY” IS NOT REQUIRED TO PUBLICLY-SHARE ITS CONSUMER COMPLAINT RESPONSES, AND CAN REQUEST THAT CFPB NOT INCLUDE ITS PUBLIC RESPONSES IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE; DESIGN DEFECT: “THE COMPANY”, AT ITS DISCRESSION, CAN SENT ONE OF THE PUBLIC RESPONSES OR CAN CHOSE TO LEAVE THE PUBLIC RESPONSE FIELD “BLANK”. THIS DEPRIVE BOTH CONSUMERS AND REGULATORY AGENCIES OF THIS VITALLY-IMPORTANT COMPLAINT-RESOLUTION INFORMATION. SOLUTION: CHANGE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO ADJUDICATION RESPONSE AND CHANGE “BLANK RESPONSE” TO “COMPANY DOES NOT DISPUTE THE FACTS PRESENTED IN THE COMPLAINT”. MANDATORY ADJUDICATION EXPLANATIONS: Company believes Complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company. Company believes Complaint is the result of an isolated error. Company believes Complaint relates to a discontinued policy or procedure. Company believes Complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers. Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law. Company believes the Complaint is the result of a misunderstanding. Company can't verify or dispute the facts in the complaint. Company chooses not to provide a public response. (This public response should be deleted. ) Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint. Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response. (This public response should be deleted. ) Blank (This public response should be deleted. ) Company does not dispute the facts presented in the complaint and has taken appropriate action to resolve complaint. (New) COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: 110
Notes Description of CFPB Database Notes 1 through 6. Note 1 The date upon which the Complaint was received by CFPB is some value; however, the date that the alleged incident occurred is not captured in the database and is crucial to the review and arbitration of this complaint. Capturing the date upon which this incident occurred, would enables CFPB to associate this Complaint to those of other consumer complaints filed against the same company during the same period of time. Note 2 and 3 The Complaint issues and sub-issues should include a custom issue that consumers could use to filed complaints for issues and/or sub-issues not contained in either of these standard lists, such as: predatory lending, mortgage loan fraud, racial discrimination, racial profiling, , redlining, . . . , . Note 4 The current CFPB Complaint Database shows that 84. 6% of all responses from “The Company” are not publicly-shared. This prevents consumers, and regulatory agencies from viewing previous responses of “The Company”, to determine if it has already responded to similar (or even the same) complaint, filed by other consumers. Note 5 Most large financial service corporation have multiple subsidiaries, and/or franchises, offering similar financial product and services to consumers; and in some instances, these affiliate business units may even compete with each other. CFPB Complaint Process should have a HMDA-like respondent ID which can be used to identify business units within the same corporation. Note 6 Consumers narratives should be moved to an adjunct, text-based database that includes searchable indexes such as: Product and Sub-product, Issue and Sub-issue, and Company Name. This would enable to consumers and regulatory agencies to find consumer narratives from other consumers with who have filed similar complaints. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 111
Notes Description of CFPB Database Notes 7 through 12. Note 7 One of the “missions” of CFPB is to: “Enforcing laws that outlaw discrimination in consumer finance”; but the current database only has three demographic “tags”: Older Americans, Servicemembers, and Older Servicemembers. Additional demographic fields are needed to identify different racial, ethnic, and gender categories. CFPB area of responsibility includes the HMDA Database, and this database provides an excellent blueprint of capturing and codifying these demographic categories. Note 8 130, 671 of the 743, 427 consumer complaints included in CFPB Complaint Database were referred to CFPB by other agencies; however, the database does not identify the referring agencies from which these complaints were referred. If CFPB is to continue to be the federal government's “central clearing-house” for financial-related consumer complaints, the agencies from which complaints were referred must be included in database. Note 9 and 10 The date the CFPB Complaint was sent to “The Company” is important, but it needs to be used in combination with the date upon which the response was received from “The Company” to determine the number of days each Complaint resolution process. Additionally, including this date in which the consumer Complaint was placed on the Company Portal should be used, rather than the “Timely Response” field, would clearly identify the companies that fail to respond to CFPB Complaints sent to them. Note 11 Consumers should be encouraged to share their Complaint and dispute descriptions publicly, because it provides CFPB with a valuable tool for monitoring the CFPB Complaint Process. Note 12 The final resolution of 145, 150 CFPB complaints disputed by consumers between 2011 and 2017, were not included in the current CFPB Complaint Database. However, going forward additional field(s) will be added to the database to track the final disposition of disputed complaints. The date upon which CFPB closed response will be included in all complaints. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 112
How the Revised CFPB Complaint Process “Would” Work: 1. Complaint creation You submit a Complaint about an issue you have with a company about a consumer financial product or service. Your complete Complaint will be placed in the CFPB Complaint Database. You will receive email updates and can log into your Complaint portal to track the status of your complaint. 2. Review and route CFPB will review and authenticate your Complaint and forward it along with any documents you provide to the company. * however, if CFPB determines that another government agency would be better able to assist you, we will refer your Complaint to them and let you know. We will continue to track the status of your claims and record this status in the CFPB Complaint Database. 3. Company response (No change. ) The company reviews your complaint, communicates with you as needed, and reports back about the steps taken or that will be taken on the issue you identify in your complaint. 4. Complaint published (Share all company responses sent to CFPB. )** We publish information about your complaint—such as the subject and date of the complaint—on our public Consumer Complaint Database. With your consent we also publish your description of what happened, after taking steps to remove personal information. 5. Consumer review (No change other than re-implementing dispute option for consumer and making it actionable. ) We will let you know when the company responds. You’ll be able to review the company’s response and will have 15 days to formally-dispute***Complaint the company's response. We turn your Complaint into action: Complaints help with our work to supervise companies, enforce federal consumer financial laws, and write better rules and regulations. Learn more about how we use data or explore the data on your own in the Consumer Complaint Database. • The current functionality of the Company Portal should be either removed, or dramatically reduced; and the portal should become an electronic-conduit for sending complaints to “The Company” and receiving “The Company’s” adjudication and public-responses to the complaints. All other functionality should be permanently removed from the Company Portal. (This does not prevent “The Company” from implementing and supporting functions currently supported by the Company Portal, (example Complaint archiving. ) ** The default should be to publish all non-personal information in complaints, including city, state, zip code, date of offence, and demographics; however, consumer should have the option to Opted out of publishing all demographic information. *** CFPB should be required to implement an actionable-dispute process that would adjudicate complaints disputed by the consumer by simply ensuring that “The Company” responses did not violate any federal consumer protection statures within its jurisdiction; and, if questions arise, it should be empowered to refer disputed complaints to other federal or state agencies. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 113
FOR MORE DETAILS, PLEASE VISIT HTTP: //WWW. CFPBCOMPLAINTMONITOR. ORG. (ALSO, CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS PRESENTATION. ) Please send comments to info@CFPBcomplaintmonitor. org COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 114
“COMPLAINT DISPUTES VERSUS CONSUMER FEEDBACK. ” SHAMEFULLY, IT NOW APPEARS THAT THERE WAS NEVER AN ACTIONABLEDISPUTE OPTION WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS; HOWEVER, BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017 CONSUMERS WERE ALLOWED TO DISPUTE RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM “THE COMPANY”, IF THEY DID NOT AGREE WITH THE ARBITRATION DECISION, AND DURING THIS SEVEN-YEAR PERIOD, THEY FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS SHOWN ON THE CFPB WEBSITE, AND FORMALLYDISPUTED A TOTAL OF 145, 150 RESPONSES” RECEIVED FROM “THE COMPANY”. EACH OF THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES, HAD MORE THAN FIVE THOUSANDS DISPUTED COMPLAINTS BETWEEN DECEMBER 2011 THROUGH APRIL 2017; AND THESE DISPUTES WERE APPARENTLY “DISCARDED” BY CFPB, WITHOUT ANY FURTHER ACTION BEING TAKEN: COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 115
“COMPLAINT DISPUTES VERSUS CONSUMER FEEDBACK. ” SHAMEFULLY, IT NOW APPEARS THAT THERE WAS NEVER AN ACTIONABLE-DISPUTE OPTION WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS; HOWEVER, BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017 CONSUMERS WERE ALLOWED TO DISPUTE RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM “THE COMPANY”, IF THEY DID NOT AGREE WITH THE ARBITRATION DECISION, AND DURING THIS SEVEN-YEAR PERIOD, THEY FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS SHOWN ON THE CFPB WEBSITE, AND FORMALLY-DISPUTED A TOTAL OF 145, 150 RESPONSES” RECEIVED FROM “THE COMPANY”. Continued) IN MAY 2017, AFTER CFPB ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THERE WAS NEVER AN ACTIONABLE-DISPUTE OPTION AVAILABLE IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, IT THEN UNCEREMONIOUSLY, RECLASSIFIED THE 145, 150 DISPUTES FILED BY CUSTOMERS, AS “CONSUMER FEEDBACKS”. UNFORTUNATELY, FROM THE CONSUMER’S PERSPECTIVE, ANY ATTEMPTS TO RESUBMIT THESE COMPLAINTS TO CFPB; OR ANY OTHER FEDERAL OR STATE CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCY, WERE SUMMARILY-REJECTED, BECAUSE BOTH THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE, AND THE “COMPANY PORTAL”, WOULD SHOW THAT THESE COMPLAINTS HAD ALREADY: Ø BEEN SUBMITTED TO “THE COMPANY” BY CFPB, AND THAT “THE COMPANY” ARBITRATED THEM, AND THEN CLOSED THESE COMPLAINTS, AND ALSO “ERRONIOUSLY” SHOW THAT; Ø CONSUMER’S DISPUTE OF “THE COMPANY’S ARBITRATION DECISIONS, HAD BEEN REVIEWED REJECTED BY BOTH CFPB, AND “THE COMPANY”. THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF THIS DECEPTION ON CONSUMERS IS INCALCULABLE, BECAUSE THEY FALSELY BELIEVED THAT THEIR DISPUTES HAD BEEN METICULOUSLY REVIEWED BY A FEDERAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT AGENCY, AND THAT THE REVIEW OF THIS AGENCY WAS EQUIVALENT TO A “GOVERNMENT” ADJUDICATION OF “THE COMPANY” RESPONSE. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 116
“THE COMPANY” HAD NO FEAR OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS! FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES, AND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION BANKS, MAINTAINED A QUASI-PARTNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP WITH CFPB, AND THE ALL-SEEING “COMPANY PORTAL” ENABLES “THE COMPANY’S”EXPERIENCED CONSUMER COMPLAINT RESOLUTION STAFF TO HAVE UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO THE BOTH CURRENT, AND ARCHIVED COMPLAINTS RESIDING IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE. BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017, THERE HAS BEEN YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASES IN THE NUMBER OF CFPB COMPLAINTS SUBMITTED TO COMPANIES: q DURING THIS PERIOD, THE NUMBER OF COMPANIES TO WHICH CFPB SUBMITTED CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, MORE THAN DOUBLE: FROM 1, 429 TO 3, 299. q THE ANNUAL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS SENT TO THESE COMPANIES MORE THAN DOUBLED: FROM 108, 218 TO 232, 361. q THE TOP-20 COMPANIES TO WHICH COMPLAINTS SUBMITTED INCREASED FROM 76, 376 IN 2013, TO 143, 377 IN 2017. THE ANNUAL INCREASE OF CFPB COMPLAINTS SENT TO COMPANIES CLEARLY ILLUSTRATES THAT THESE COMPANIES HAD “NO FEAR” OF THE ARBITRATION, AND ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS; AND, BECAUSE OF A FLAW IN THE COMPANYCENTRIC DESIGN OF THIS COMPLAINT PROCESS, SOME COMPANIES APPEAR TO HAVE ACTUALLY WELCOMED THIS INCREASED NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS; BECAUSE ONCE “THE COMPANY” CLOSE A COMPLAINT, AND OBTAINS CFPB’S “RUBBER-STAMP” APPROVAL OF ITS CLOSED RESPONSE, NO FURTHER ACTION WAS TAKEN, AND FOR ALL “INTENT AND PURPOSE”, THIS COMPLAINT WAS DEAD. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 117
“CONSUMER FEEDBACK? ” THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE SHOWS THAT FROM DECEMBER 1, 2011 THROUGH MARCH 24, 2017, CONSUMERS DISPUTED 145, 150 (19. 5%) OF 743, 427 RESPONSES FROM “THE COMPANY”, BUT IN REALITY, THERE WAS NEVER A DISPUTE OPTION WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS; AND CFPB NOW CLASSIFIES THESE “DISPUTES” AS “CONSUMER FEEDBACK”. Note: It is unclear what role, if any, Consumer Narratives play in the Company’s Complaint Arbitration Process, but Consumer Narratives were only received in CFPB Complaints submitted via the web, and not available for CFPB Complaints received via Email, Fax, Phone, Postal mail, or Referrals. Click here to see top-25 reasons why the current CFPB Complaint Process does not work. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 118
CFPB COMPLAINT PRODUCTS AND SUB-PRODUCTS. THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS INCLUDES TWELVE (12*) PRODUCTS, AND FORTY -EIGHT (48) SUB-PRODUCT, WITH WHICH TO CATEGORIZE THE FINANCIAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM WHICH CFPB COMPLAINTS COULD BE CREATED. *The number of products was recently expanded from 12 to eighteen. Click following link to see a complete list of Products and Issues: https: //files. consumerfinance. gov/f/documents/201704 CFPB Consumer Complaint Form Product and Issue Options. pdf COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 119
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 743, 427 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS; AND ALL COMPLAINTS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 4, 037 IN-PROGRESS RESPONSES, AND 4, 010 UNTIMELY RESPONSES, WERE ADJUDICATED, AND CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY”. Click here to see a list of 48 sub-products. *The number of products was recently expanded from 12 to eighteen. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 120
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS IS THE PUBLIC-SHARING OF COMPLAINT RESOLUTION DATA WITH BOTH CONSUMERS, AND OTHER REGULATORY AGENCIES THIS FEATURE ENABLES CONSUMERS TO SEE HOW “THE COMPANY” RESPONDED TO PREVIOUS CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND ALSO ALLOWS REGULATORY AUTHORITIES TO ENSURE THAT “THE COMPANY” IS CONFORMING TO CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS AND REGULATIONS COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 121
“THE COMPANY” PUBLICLY DISPUTES THE FACTS PRESENTED BY CONSUMERS 0. 4% OF THE TIME!” “THE COMPANY”ONLY DISPUTES THE FACTS IN CFPB COMPLAINT 0. 4% OF THE TIME; YET IT CHOOSES NOT TO PUBLICLY-SHARE ITS RESPONSES TO CONSUMERS: 87. 0%! THIS STATISTIC CLEARLYDEMONSTRATES, THAT MANY, IF NOT MOST, OF “THE COMPANY” RESPONSES ARE SUBJECTIVE, RATHER THAN OBJECTIVE; AND NOT BASED UPON THE ACTUAL COMPLAINT FILED BY THE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 122
CFPB CONSUMER COMPLAINT - FOUR CLOSED RESPONSES THE FOUR PRIMARY CLOSED RESPONSES WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS ARE: 1. 2. 3. 4. CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION. CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF. CLOSE WITHOUT MONETARY RELIEF. AS OF APRIL 30, 2017, THE CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 743, 427 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND 712, 219 OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE CLOSED BY “THE COMPANY”, WITH A WINNING PERCENTAGE OF 80. 1%; AND BECAUSE THERE ARE NO DISPUTE OR APPEAL OPTIONS WITHIN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS, CONSUMERS ARE “FORCED” TO ACCEPT “THE COMPANY” RESPONSES. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 123
WINNING PERCENTAGE OF “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” RESPONSE THE “CLOSE WITH EXPLANATION “ RESPONSE SENT TO CONSUMERS IS ONE OF THE FOUR CLOSED RESPONSES ALSO SENT TO CFPB BY: CLOSED RESPONSE DESCRIPTION OF CLOSED RESPONSE q q CLOSED WITH NO EXPLANATION AND NO RELIEF. CLOSED WITH ONE OF SEVEN EXPLANATIONS. CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF TO THE CONSUMER. CLOSED WITHOUT MONETARY RELIEF TO THE CONSUMER. CLOSED: CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION: CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF: CLOSED WITH NON-MONETARY RELIEF: THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS THE ANNUAL TOTALS FOR EACH OF THESE CLOSED RESPONSES, PLUS SEVEN-YEAR TOTALS, AND PERCENTAGES FOR ALL FOUR CLOSED RESPONSES. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 124
“THE COMPANY ALWAYS WINS!”* A CLEAR, UNDENIABLE EXAMPLE OF THE COMPANY-CENTRIC DESIGN OF THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS IS THE FACT THAT OF THE 712, 219 CFPB COMPLAINTS CONTAINED IN THE CFPB DATABASE, THE WINNING PERCENTAGE OF COMPLAINTS: “CLOSED”, AND “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” RANGED FROM A LOW OF 55. 3% FOR PREPAID CARDS, UP TO 90. 6% FOR MORTGAGES, UP TO 100% FOR VIRTUAL CURRENCY. PLEASE CLICK ON THE NAVIGATION LINKS IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE, TO VIEW SHOWN IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE, TO SEE THE CLOSING RESPONSES GENERATED BY “THE COMPANY FOR ALL OF THE TWELVE PRODUCTS CONTAINED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS: Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency * It is important to note, that consumers still dispute CFPB complaints that are “Closed with Monetary Relief”, and “Closed without Monetary Relief, 11. 1% of the time. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 125
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 79, 995 BANK ACCOUNT OR SERVICE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND 71. 6% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 126
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 24, 448 CONSUMER LOAN COMPLAINTS, AND 84. 6% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 127
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 79382 CREDIT CARD COMPLAINTS, AND 65. 9% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 128
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 133, 042 CREDIT REPORTING COMPLAINTS, AND 71. 5% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 129
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 133, 042 CREDIT REPORTING COMPLAINTS, AND 71. 5% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 130
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 5, 134 MONEY TRANSFER CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND 83. 6% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 131
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 209, 471 MORTGAGE COMPLAINTS, AND 90. 6% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 132
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 936 OTHER FINANCIAL SERVICE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND 84. 9% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 133
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 5, 089 PAYDAYLOAN COMPLAINTS, AND 90. 8% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 134
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 3, 630 PREPAID CARD CONSUMER COMPLAINTS, AND 55. 3% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 135
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 29, 229 STUDENT LOAN COMPLAINTS, AND 88. 3% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 136
CFPB COMPLAINT DATABASE CONTAINED 16 VIRTUAL CURRENCY COMPLAINTS, AND 100% OF THESE COMPLAINTS WERE EITHER CLOSED, OR CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION, BY “THE COMPANY”. Click following Links to see Product Summaries of CFPB Complaints Closed by “The Company”: Bank account or service Consumer loan Credit card Credit reporting Debt collection Money transfers Mortgage Other financial service Payday loan Prepaid card Student loan Virtual currency COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 137
ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLAINT ARBITRATION RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM TOP-20 COMPANIES, TO WHICH CFPB SENT CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. “THE COMPANY” ALWAYS WINS! THE COMPLETE CFPB COMPLAINT ARBITRATION PROCESS IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF “THE COMPANY”; AND MOST INSTANCES, "THE COMPANY" WILL RESPONSE TO THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT IN ITS OWN BEST INTEREST. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 138
BETWEEN DECEMBER 2011 AND APRIL 2017, THE TOP-20 OF THE 4, 168 COMPANIES IN THE CFPB DATABASE WERE THE RECIPIENT OF 477, 400 (64. 2%) OF THE 743, 427 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS PROCESSED BY CFPB DURING THIS PERIOD. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 139
AS SHOWN IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE, BETWEEN JANUARY 2011 AND APRIL 2017, THE TOP-20 COMPANIES RECEIVED 477, 400 OF THE 743, 427 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED BY CFPB; AND AS SHOWN IN RED, FOURTEEN OF THE TOP-20 COMPANIES HAD YEAR-OVER-YEAR COMPLAINT INCREASES FROM 2015 TO 2016: COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 140
TOP-20 SUMMARY: BETWEEN JANUARY 2013 AND DECEMBER 2016, 14, 581 “CLOSED” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 7, 216 (49. 5%) OF THESE WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. CLICK FOLLOWING LINKS TO VIEW OTHER TOP-20 CLOSED RESPONSES. Closed with Explanation Closed with Monetary Relief Closed without Monetary Relief Click HERE to return to Top-20 Summary. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 141
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 482, 371 “CLOSED WITH EXPLANATION” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 300, 085 (62. 2%) OF THESE WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. CLICK FOLLOWING LINKS TO VIEW OTHER TOP-20 CLOSED RESPONSES. Closed with Explanation Closed with Monetary Relief Closed without Monetary Relief Click HERE to return to Top-20 Summary. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 142
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 40, 695 “CLOSED WITH MONETARY RELIEF” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES, AND 32, 464 (78. 8%) WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. CLICK FOLLOWING LINKS TO VIEW OTHER TOP-20 CLOSED RESPONSES. Closed with Explanation Closed with Monetary Relief Closed without Monetary Relief Click HERE to return to Top-20 Summary. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 143
FROM JANUARY 2013 TO DECEMBER 2016, 80, 621 “CLOSED WITH NON-MONETARY RELIEF” RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED FROM ALL COMPANIES”, AND 63, 646 (78. 9%) WERE RECEIVED FROM THE “TOP-20. CLICK FOLLOWING LINKS TO VIEW OTHER TOP-20 CLOSED RESPONSES. Closed with Explanation Closed with Monetary Relief Closed without Monetary Relief Click HERE to return to Top-20 Summary. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 144
APPENDIX COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 145
MORE THAN NINETY-NINE THOUSAND CRIMINAL/FRAUD TYPE COMPLAINTS FILED WITH THE CFPB; AND ONLY 0. 7% OF THESE COMPLAINTS GIVEN MONETARY RELIEF. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 146
7, 832 OF THE CONSUMERS WHO FILED FRAUD/SCAM TYPE COMPLAINTS WITH CFPB , DISPUTED THE CLOSED RESPONSES FROM THE “THE COMPANY” (Continued) Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 147
PRIOR TO MAY 2017, THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS CONTAINED 12 PRODUCTS, AND STARTING MAY 1, 2017, THIS NUMBER WAS INCREASED TO 18 PRODUCTS. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 148
28. 1% OF THE 743, 427 COMPLAINTS FILED BY CFPB INCLUDED NO SUB-PRODUCT NAME. # # Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 149
NO DISCRIMINATION RELATED ISSUES DEFINED 2017 IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT DISTRIBUTION OF 2011 THROUGH Complaint ISSUES. PROCESS. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 150
NO DISCRIMINATION RELATED SUB-ISSUES DEFINED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 151
FIVE-STEP CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS Return to Previous Page COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 152
NUMBER OF CFPB COMPLAINT FOR TOP-20 “WINNING” COMPANIES, DURING PAST 5 YEARS. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 153
TOTAL NUMBER OF DISPUTED CFPB COMPLAINT FOR TOP-20 “WINNING” COMPANIES COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 154
TOTAL NUMBER OF DISPUTED CFPB COMPLAINT FOR TOP-20 “WINNING” COMPANIES Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 155
CFPB COMPLAINT CLOSED RESPONSES - TOP-20 COMPANIES VERSUS ALL OTHER COMPANIES. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 156
CFPB COMPLAINTS AND CFPB DISPUTE-COMPLAINTS - INPUT SOURCES. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 157
CFPB COMPANY PORTAL DASHBOARD - WITH “ 1 -CLICK”, STREAMLINED COMPLAINT RESPONSE FORM. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 158
LAYOUT OF DATA FIELDS CONTAINED IN THE CFPB COMPLAINT PROCESS DATABASE. Click here to return. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 159
COMPLAINT SUMMARIES. COMPLAINTS FILED WITH CFPB: "THE COMPANY" ALWAYS WIN! 160
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