Issues › Debt or credit management
Who is complaining aboutConfusing or misleading advertising or marketing?
When looking at complaint volume about a company or product, consider company size and/or market share. For example, companies with more customers may have more complaints than companies with fewer customers.
The CFPB does not verify every allegation in a complaint before publishing it.Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Complaint Database. A complaint is a consumer's account of a problem; it is not a finding against the company.
808 complaints in the 12 months to 1 Oct 2026 carry the CFPB issue label “Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing”, down 10% on the 899 of the 12 months before; 3,312 since 2017.
52.5% of them were filed under the product “Debt or credit management”, where the issue makes up 10% of that product's complaints.
Company responses on this issue: 81.7% closed with an explanation, 5.9% closed with non-monetary relief, 4.6% closed with monetary relief, and 3.1% still in progress when the file was published. 92.3% were timely.
Which products
| Product (CFPB label) | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Debt or credit management | 424 | 52.5% |
| Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service | 279 | 34.5% |
| Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan | 105 | 13% |
Which companies, with their size
Ordered by the number of complaints carrying this issue in the last 12 months.
| Company (as named by the CFPB) | Complaints, 12 months | Share | Company size | Per $1bn assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block, Inc. | 101 | 12.5% | no public measure | — |
| Paypal Holdings, Inc | 65 | 8% | no public measure | — |
| Kikoff Inc. | 21 | 2.6% | no public measure | — |
| NATIONAL DEBT RELIEF LLC | 21 | 2.6% | no public measure | — |
| Chime Financial Inc | 19 | 2.4% | no public measure | — |
| Consumer Financial Services Solutions, Inc. | 17 | 2.1% | no public measure | — |
| Experian Information Solutions Inc. | 16 | 2% | no public measure | — |
| CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 15 | 1.9% | $662bn assets | 0.02 |
| Credit Karma, LLC | 14 | 1.7% | no public measure | — |
| FREEDOM FINANCIAL NETWORK | 13 | 1.6% | no public measure | — |
| WELLS FARGO & COMPANY | 13 | 1.6% | $1.92tn assets | 0.01 |
| TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. | 12 | 1.5% | no public measure | — |
| ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. | 12 | 1.5% | no public measure | — |
| SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL | 11 | 1.4% | $115bn assets | 0.10 |
| Paramount GR Holdings, LLC | 11 | 1.4% | no public measure | — |
| MoneyLion Inc. | 10 | 1.2% | no public measure | — |
| Nelnet, Inc. | 10 | 1.2% | no public measure | — |
| EQUIFAX, INC. | 9 | 1.1% | no public measure | — |
| BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 9 | 1.1% | $2.65tn assets | 0.00 |
| The J. G. Wentworth Company | 8 | 1% | no public measure | — |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 8 | 1% | $4.09tn assets | 0.00 |
| Albert Corporation | 8 | 1% | no public measure | — |
| Servicer under contract with Federal Student Aid | 8 | 1% | no public measure | — |
| Self Financial Inc. | 7 | 0.9% | no public measure | — |
| Resurgent Capital Services L.P. | 6 | 0.7% | no public measure | — |
| All other companies, including those not listed by name | 364 | 45% | — | — |
CFPB: “When looking at complaint volume about a company or product, consider company size and/or market share. For example, companies with more customers may have more complaints than companies with fewer customers.” The CFPB does not verify every allegation in a complaint before publishing it. 5 of the 25 companies in this table have a public size measure. “No public measure” means the company could not be matched by name to a single institution in the FDIC, NCUA or HMDA files, not that it is small.
How companies responded
- Closed with explanation660 · 81.7%
- Closed with non-monetary relief48 · 5.9%
- Untimely response38 · 4.7%
- Closed with monetary relief37 · 4.6%
- All other categories25 · 3.1%
| Measure | This issue | All issues |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with monetary or non-monetary relief | 10.9% | 31.5% |
| Closed with monetary relief | 4.7% | 0.5% |
| Responses marked timely | 92.3% | 99.6% |
Trend
Questions and answers
What does the CFPB issue “Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing” mean?
It is one of the options a consumer selects on the CFPB complaint form to describe the problem. The label is the consumer's choice and is not checked by the Bureau.
How many complaints carry this issue?
808 in the 12 months to 1 Oct 2026 and 3,312 since 2017.
Which products does it apply to?
“Debt or credit management” (52.5%), “Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service” (34.5%), “Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan” (13%).
Does the CFPB verify complaints?
The CFPB does not verify every allegation in a complaint before publishing it. Counts on this page show what consumers reported, not what was found.
Provenance
Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Complaint Database, bulk file downloaded 1 Oct 2026, complaints received through 1 Oct 2026. Only coded fields are used (company, product, sub-product, issue, state, dates, company response, timeliness); complaint narratives are never read, stored or shown. Complaints are published once the company responds or after 15 days, so the most recent two to three weeks are incomplete. Size measures: FDIC BankFind (report date 30 Jun 2026), NCUA call reports (30 Jun 2026), HMDA transmittal sheet (2025), Census Bureau population estimates (2025). All are US government works. Search the CFPB database · Methodology · Report an error.