CFPB complaints · by product

Debt collection

What consumers complain about with this financial product — and how often companies respond on time.

1,123,415

CFPB complaints filed · 7.0% of all

5,402

companies complained about

96.5%

timely response

Read the volume carefully. How many complaints a product draws tracks how many people use it and how large its companies are — not how "bad" it is. (Credit reporting is ~80% of all CFPB complaints because the bureaus hold records on nearly every adult and disputes are the #1 category.) The fair signal here is the timely-response rate — how reliably companies answer — which, unlike raw volume, isn't a function of size.

What goes wrong

The CFPB issue categories these complaints concern most.

Attempts to collect debt not owed 449,629

Written notification about debt 219,177

Took or threatened to take negative or legal action 132,348

False statements or representation 114,470

Communication tactics 75,840

Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed 60,521

Companies most complained about for this product

Highest complaint volume (context — it tracks size and market share, not a ranking of who's worst), shown next to each company's timely-response rate, the comparable signal.

CompanyComplaintsTimely response

TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. 55,810 100.0%

EQUIFAX, INC. 54,747 99.9%

Experian Information Solutions Inc. 49,825 100.0%

ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. 49,526 100.0%

Resurgent Capital Services L.P. 48,187 100.0%

Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC 47,915 98.9%

CL Holdings LLC 36,193 100.0%

CCS Financial Services, Inc. 21,131 84.6%

I.C. System, Inc. 18,246 99.9%

CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION 16,888 99.9%

TRANSWORLD SYSTEMS INC 16,071 99.9%

National Credit Systems,Inc. 15,340 98.5%

Kriya Capital, LLC 13,373 99.9%

SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL 12,602 99.6%

CITIBANK, N.A. 11,970 100.0%

Most companies respond on time, so this rate matters most where it is notably lower. A low rate means a company more often failed to answer within CFPB's window — it does not measure whether consumers were satisfied. And every count here is an unverified consumer allegation, not proven wrongdoing.

What these figures mean

RECORDED — the complaint count, issue breakdown, and timely-response rate are CFPB records of complaints consumers filed.
MODELED — "Debt collection" merges 1 CFPB product label (Debt collection) into one category so the same product isn't split across CFPB's legacy labels. The counts are unchanged.
CONTEXT — volume is not a ranking (it tracks reach and size, with no denominator); timely-response measures answering within CFPB's window, not consumer satisfaction.

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What this is — and is not

A CFPB complaint is an unverified consumer allegation — not a finding, not proven wrongdoing, and not a verdict by the CFPB or anyone else. This is not a ranking of which product or company is "worst," and not advice about a product or company. Read the actual complaints and how they were handled — and file your own — at the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database.