Complaint Management Triage
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Complaint Management… Yes, No, Maybe

Greg Sawyers, Product Compliance Officer, discusses how the CFPB website shows that there have been over 1.1 million complaints submitted since November 30, 2011.

Greg Sawyers
Blog,
Greg Sawyers – Product Compliance Officer

With a new administration, we have seen several changes. One of those, in particular, is with the CFPB. In the past, they have been very proud of publishing the list so everyone can see complaints.

At the time I am writing this article, the CFPB website shows that there have been over 1.1 million complaints submitted to the CFPB since November 30, 2011. The new interim head of the CFPB has mentioned that he is pondering not allowing the compliant log to be made public. Even though they might eliminate publishing the log, there will be an attempt to make all complaints public. To that point, I recently read an article where a former Ohio Attorney General stated he would request the list via the Freedom of Information Act and if the CFPB refuses to provide, they will sue to obtain the information and make it public on their website. With that, I am sure others will follow.

Anyone working at a financial institution expects complaints about a myriad of issues. Some may be valid and others may not. Complaint Management has been and will be for the forthcoming future, a hot-button issue. The CFPB and NCUA have intensified the focus on the issue by placing a lot of emphasis on complaints and developed systems for consumers to submit complaints. One of my tasks when I was a Compliance Officer, and I am sure is part of yours, was to periodically go to the CFPB complaint site and review if my financial institution or any of my vendors were placed on the complaint system. This has become part and parcel to our lives.

If the file isn’t made public, Compliance Officers will have to do what they do best, roll with the times and adjust their procedures to ensure they are catching all complaints that may affect their institution. On Tuesday, September 25th, Temenos is hosting a webinar on Complaint Management. We will go over several topics surrounding complaint management, including how to set up a complaint management program and we will show examples of manual and automatic processes. I hope to see you there.

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Greg Sawyers
Blog,
Greg Sawyers – Product Compliance Officer