How complaint systems work
How CFPB complaints are resolved
Short answer
- Usual company response time
- 15 days 1
- Final response where in progress
- Within 60 days 1
- Consumer feedback window
- 60 days 1
- Timely responses, 2025
- 99.6% of more than 5.9 million 2
- Closed with monetary relief, 2025
- Under 1% 2
The five steps
- Complaint submitted: the consumer files a complaint, or another agency forwards one, and the consumer gets email updates 1.
- Route: the CFPB sends the complaint to the company. If another agency is better able to help, the CFPB sends it there and tells the consumer 1.
- Company response: the company communicates with the consumer as needed and responds to the issues 1.
- Complaint published: the CFPB publishes information about the complaint, without information that directly identifies the consumer 1.
- Consumer review: the CFPB notifies the consumer when the company responds, and the consumer has 60 days to give feedback 1.
Company response categories
The company response field records how the company responded 3. The CFPB annual reports give the share of each category across all products 4,2.
Credit reporting responses
Credit or consumer reporting complaints dominate the totals. In 2024 the CFPB received more than 2.7 million of them, 85% of all complaints 4. Companies closed 42% of those with an explanation, 52% with non-monetary relief and 0.03% with monetary relief 4. In 2025 the category passed 5.8 million complaints, 88% of the total 2.
Administrative responses
The CFPB says that when a company cannot act on a complaint, it can provide an administrative response 4. One example in the 2024 report is a complaint the company says was the result of fraud, scams or business identity theft, where the company can give a statement or other evidence supporting this 4.
Companies gave about 84,300 administrative responses in 2024 4. In 2025 they gave about 540,800, and closed about 5,416,600 complaints with explanation or relief 2.
Timeliness and routing
The timely response field records whether the company gave a timely response 3. Companies gave a timely response to 99.7% of about 2,829,400 complaints sent to them in 2024 4, and to 99.6% of more than 5.9 million in 2025 2.
Not every complaint reaches a company. In 2025 the CFPB referred 3% to other regulators and found 7% not actionable 2. Referred complaints are not published in the database 5.
Common questions
How long does a company have to respond to a CFPB complaint?
Companies usually respond within 15 days. Some give a final response within 60 days 1.
What happens if I disagree with the company's response?
The CFPB says you can review the response and have 60 days to give feedback about it 1.
What is an administrative response?
A response a company gives when it cannot act on a complaint, for example where it says the complaint resulted from fraud or identity theft 4.
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Sources
Related
- The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database explained
What the US CFPB complaint database holds, when complaints are published, 2024 and 2025 volumes, and the limits the CFPB states for the data.
- How to read a company complaint response
What a firm's complaint response must contain in the UK, Australia, Canada and India, and what CFPB labels such as closed with explanation mean.
- What a complaint count does not show
Why raw complaint numbers are not proof of wrongdoing, in the words of the CFPB, FCA, ASIC and FCC, with the counting rules that shape the totals.
- Upheld and not upheld explained
What upheld, not upheld, partially upheld and similar labels mean at the UK FOS, the FCA, Ireland's FSPO, AFCA, the RBI Ombudsman, OBSI and the CFPB.