Rachel Sadon
Via Shutterstock.
By DCist contributor Rachel Kaufman.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a new database of people who have filed complaints about persistent/harassing debt collectors, credit report mistakes, and financial scammers. Turns out that D.C. is averaging 577 complaints per 100,000 people, which is the highest of any “state.” (As with any rankings that compare D.C. to other states, the numbers are likely skewed since the District is more urban than a real state.) So, we’re winning!
Of the actual states, Maryland is averaging 333 complaints per 100,000 people, which is second only to Delaware.
You can actually read all the complaints (anonymized) online; they range from scam debt collectors trying to scare people into paying back fake debts to billing disputes to a real gem of a human being complaining that his/her new credit card has a chip in it, which the government is clearly using to track his/her every move. There are also a surprising number of people filing complaints about their student loans, with the stated issue being “Can’t repay my loan” (actually, maybe that’s not all that surprising.) The majority of the complaints are about debt collectors or mortgage servicers.
The least popular companies nationwide, at least measured by complaint volume, are Equifax, Experian, Bank of America, TransUnion, and Wells Fargo.
If you have your own complaint, you can file it here and do your part to keep D.C.’s numbers up.
