The number of debt collection complaints filed by consumers with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped 3% in 2018, to 81,500, and debt collection complaints accounted for 25% of all complaints filed with the agency last year, well behind credit reporting, which accounted for 38%.
The data was released by the CFPB as part of a Congressionally mandated report that the agency must release every year on its response to consumer complaints.
Consumers are not very active in attempting to resolve complaints directly with collection agencies before going to the CFPB, according to the report. Eighty-two percent of consumers said they did not try to reconcile their differences with a collection agency before filing a complaint with the CFPB, ahead of only payday lenders (81%), and credit repair organizations (78%).
Ninety-five percent of collection agencies provided timely responses to complaints last year, putting the industry near the bottom of the list, ahead of credit repair organizations (91%), payday lenders (94%), title loan companies (94%), and tied with personal loan companies. Overall, companies responded in a timely fashion on 98% of all complaints.
Only 1% of collection-related complaints required monetary relief to close them out, which was second-best among the 13 categories of companies.
When complaining about a collection-related issue, “other” types of debt was the most common, most likely related to telecom debt, the CFPB posited. Complaints about “other” types of debt accounted for 30% of all complaints filed last year, ahead of credit card debt (22%), unknown debt (21%), and medical debt (16%).
Attempts to collect a debt not owed was the most popular sub-category, representing 44% of all complaints, ahead of written notification about a debt (24%), and communication tactics (12%).
