How companies respond
When the CFPB forwards a complaint, the company answers the consumer and picks one closing category. That category is the “company response to consumer” field shown in teal across this site.
The closing categories
- Closed with explanation. The company explained its position or the account history to the consumer without changing anything.
- Closed with non-monetary relief. The company took a step other than payment: correcting a credit report entry, stopping collection calls, changing account terms, restoring access.
- Closed with monetary relief. The company provided money: a refund, a fee reversal, a credit.
- In progress. The company has acknowledged the complaint and has not yet closed it. Recent months always show more of these.
- Untimely response. The company did not respond within the CFPB's deadline.
- Closed, Closed with relief, Closed without relief. Categories used before mid-2012 and kept for older records.
The national mix, last 12 months
| Company response (CFPB category) | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with explanation | 4,304,533 | 62% |
| Closed with non-monetary relief | 1,966,676 | 28.3% |
| In progress | 617,457 | 8.9% |
| Closed with monetary relief | 30,881 | 0.4% |
| Untimely response | 18,509 | 0.3% |
31.6% of closed complaints ended with monetary or non-monetary relief and 99.6% of responses were marked timely.
Reading relief rates with care
A high relief share can mean a company resolves problems readily, or that many of its complaints had merit; a low share can mean the opposite of either. Relief rates also differ by product: a disputed credit report entry is often corrected (non-monetary relief), while a complaint about a declined loan rarely ends in relief of any kind. That is why company pages compare relief and timeliness with the median of companies in the same product category, not with all companies.
The optional public response
Separately, a company may choose one public statement from a fixed CFPB list, such as “Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law”. Many companies choose not to give one. Where they do, company pages show how often each statement was chosen. These are the company's selections, not findings by the Bureau.
Disputed responses
Until April 2017 consumers could mark a company's response as disputed. The CFPB then replaced that field with a feedback survey that is not published per complaint, so no disputed rate exists for later years.