A mismatch in consumer complaint statuses, the agency’s name change and more are among the topics addressed in a report published online Thursday by the federal consumer financial protection agency’s ombudsman.
In her “2018 Annual Report to the Director,” Wendy Kamenshine, the ombudsman for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP, formerly known as CFPB), provides an overview of her office’s work processes and summarizes its activities from fiscal year 2018.
Among some of the highlights was an issue flagged by consumers regarding how the consumer complaint portal displays the statuses of older complaints. It says that in certain circumstances, the portal indicated the consumer complaint was still open, but the telephone contact center said it was closed. The office determined this was due to a technical issue (which apparently did not affect complaint processing) and that the bureau’s Consumer Response unit “was addressing this concern as of this writing, so that in November the consumer complaint statuses displayed will match for the different public resources the Bureau provides.”
The report also notes technical issues noted by some companies using the company portal, such as trouble with the password reset function and possible software incompatibility. It says Consumer Response was already addressing these and recently made an updated regarding the login experience.
Also noted is the decision by Acting Director John (“Mick”) Mulvaney to change the bureau’s name from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The ombudsman says her office gave feedback and recommendations “in an early warning capacity” regarding the implementation process during the second half of the year. It did not detail the recommendations. “We will continue to review this topic and provide additional feedback and recommendations regarding the implementation, as needed, to assist both the Bureau and the public,” the report says.
The report, 51 pages long, also summarizes the bureau’s outreach and “inreach” activities, issues related to staff contact information, questions received on the 12 requests for information (the “call for evidence” by Mulvaney), the bureau’s examination process, forums held this year with industry and consumer groups, and more.