WASHINGTON–The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it is overhauling its consumer complaint process for credit reporting disputes, arguing the changes are needed to curb widespread abuse of the system, while consumer advocates charged the agency is erecting new barriers that will make it harder for consumers to challenge errors on their credit reports.
According to the CFPB, the changes are intended to improve the efficiency and integrity of the complaint process by:
- Establishing a standardized process for credit reporting agencies to follow when responding to complaints.
- Enhancing identity verification protections.
- Aligning the complaint process with the bureau’s statutory responsibilities.
- Directing resources toward complaints that warrant substantive responses.
- Educating consumers about resolving credit report errors directly with credit reporting agencies before filing complaints with the CFPB.
- Increasing the overall efficiency of the complaint system.
‘Significant Abuse’
The CFPB said the changes respond to what it described as significant abuse of the complaint process, particularly involving credit reporting disputes.
According to the agency, credit and consumer reporting complaints increased more than 3,700% between 2019 and 2025, rising from approximately 150,000 annually to 5 million per year. The bureau attributed the surge to multiple factors, including credit repair companies and credit clinics using the complaint portal as part of their business models, social media influencers encouraging consumers to file complaints, the growing use of artificial intelligence tools acting on consumers’ behalf, and businesses seeking to improve consumers’ credit scores by disputing accurate information.
Designed to Maintain ‘High Response Rates’
The CFPB said the changes are designed to help maintain high response rates from credit reporting agencies, encourage consumers to first exercise their dispute rights directly with the agencies, and protect the complaint system from misuse.
The Bureau also noted that in March it reported that 88% of all complaints filed in 2025 involved credit or consumer reporting issues.
NCLC Says Protections Being Weakened
The announcement immediately drew criticism from the National Consumer Law Center, which accused the CFPB of weakening consumer protections while making it more difficult for people to seek help.
According to the organization, the CFPB will now require consumers to verify their identities using both a mobile phone number and an email address before submitting complaints. The group also criticized the bureau’s statement that it would pursue individuals who abuse the complaint process, arguing the CFPB had not explained how it would distinguish abusive complaints from legitimate ones or provided evidence supporting claims of widespread abuse.
‘Deliberate Creating Barriers’
“The Trump administration’s CFPB, at the behest of the credit reporting companies, is deliberately creating barriers for people to report illegal and abusive actions by large financial companies,” Diane Thompson said in a statement. “The CFPB was created to protect consumers, not corporations, and should return to that mission.”
The National Consumer Law Center said credit reporting complaints account for roughly 85% of all complaints submitted to the CFPB, with consumers frequently reporting inaccurate information on their credit reports. The organization said the bureau received more than 5.8 million complaints involving credit and consumer reporting companies during 2025, roughly double the previous year’s volume, and argued such errors can increase consumers’ borrowing costs across multiple financial products.
Other Bureau Actions Cited
The consumer advocacy group also pointed to actions taken by the CFPB in February, when the Bureau began warning consumers not to submit credit reporting complaints unless they had first formally disputed the issue with the credit reporting company. According to the National Consumer Law Center, those notices also require consumers to agree to statements regarding their eligibility to seek assistance and appear before complaints involving any financial product, including mortgages and debt collection.
“The CFPB should be doing its job to make it easier for people to get help, not throwing new obstacles in their path,” Chi Chi Wu said in a statement. “It should be focusing on the abuses of the credit reporting oligopoly, not acting in cahoots with it.”
