How to Complain About Your Credit Card

Have you ever been wronged by a credit card issuer? Did you wish you could complain to someone other than the customer service line? If so, then you’ll be happy to know that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has launched an online portal for submitting credit card complaints.

In case you’ve never heard of it, the CFPB is an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve System whose goal is to provide consumers with the information necessary to make sound financial decisions. It was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and they’re working “to promote fairness and transparency for mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer financial products and services.”

In order to file a credit card complaint with the CFPB, you’ll be asked to describe the problem in your own words, choose a category for your complaint, let them know how much money (if any) that you lost, let them know what you’ve done to try to resolve the problem, describe what you think would be a fair resolution to the problem, and provide your contact and credit card info. When you’re finished, you’ll be assigned a tracking number.

From there, you’ll apparently be directed to contact the card issuer to resolve the problem. If that doesn’t work, you can contact the CFPB with your tracking number for additional action, which will include an investigation into whether or not the problem violates and laws or regulations. You can also use your tracking number to check on the status of the investigation.

In the future, the system will be upgraded to handle complaints related to other financial services, including bank accounts, mortgages, student loans, etc. In the long run, I would imagine that these consumer reports will also help the CFPB identify patterns of abuse and help them to proactively combat problems.

If you prefer to deal with your credit card problems offline, you can also call the CFPB (toll free) at 855-411-CFPB to lodge your complaint. Otherwise, feel free to click through and get started.