The American Bankers Association is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remove four demographic fields from its Consumer Response Intake Form – the form that consumers use to submit a complaint to the bureau – and to take action to combat credit repair organizations, social media influencers and others who encourage consumers to submit unfounded complaints challenging accurate, negative information from credit reports.
In 2022, the CFPB obtained approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act to capture the consumer’s gender and race; whether the consumer is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin; and the consumer’s preferred language. ABA objected to the changes, noting that the collection of this information could not be used to conduct a fair and reliable fair lending analysis and could encourage the bureau to exceed its statutory authority to enforce the fair lending laws. Despite the concerns, the Office of Management and Budget under the Biden administration approved the changes.
In a comment letter, ABA urged the CFPB to remove these fields and requested the OMB to deny re-approval of the intake form until the CFPB makes this change. The association also urged the CFPB to modify an existing notice on the CFPB’s online complaint submission form that directs consumers to file disputes regarding inaccurate or incomplete information on their credit reports with the credit reporting agency first, before submitting a complaint with the CFPB. In addition, ABA requested the CFPB extend the notice to consumers whose dispute is with a bank or other furnisher of the information on the credit report.
ABA also noted that CROs, social media influencers and others promising consumers a quick fix submit or encourage consumers to submit disputes and complaints in an attempt to have accurate, negative information removed from credit reports (a form of fraud known as “credit washing”). ABA urged the CFPB to take steps to identify CROs filing complaints and to prevent them from improperly filing complaints with the agency.
