Issues › Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports
Who is complaining aboutImproper use of your report?
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.
Consumers chose the issue “Improper use of your report” on 1,295,374 complaints in the 12 months to 30 Sep 2026, up 25% on the 1,032,945 of the 12 months before. That is 18.7% of all complaints received.
99.9% of them were filed under the product “Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports”, where the issue makes up 20.5% of that product's complaints.
Company responses on this issue: 60.4% closed with an explanation, 30.7% closed with non-monetary relief, 0% closed with monetary relief, and 8.8% still in progress when the file was published. 99.9% were timely.
Which products
| Product (CFPB label) | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports | 1,293,988 | 99.9% |
| Credit card | 601 | <0.1% |
| Student loan | 315 | <0.1% |
| Vehicle loan or lease | 190 | <0.1% |
| Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan | 140 | <0.1% |
| Mortgage | 82 | <0.1% |
| Checking or savings account | 58 | <0.1% |
Sub-issues
| Sub-issue (CFPB label) | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting company used your report improperly | 1,082,116 | 83.5% |
| Credit inquiries on your report that you don't recognize | 209,941 | 16.2% |
| Received unsolicited financial product or insurance offers after opting out | 1,871 | 0.1% |
| Report provided to employer without your written authorization | 1,446 | 0.1% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. | 480,573 | 37.1% | no public measure | — |
| EQUIFAX, INC. | 404,825 | 31.3% | no public measure | — |
| Experian Information Solutions Inc. | 356,635 | 27.5% | no public measure | — |
| CBC Companies, Inc. | 8,396 | 0.6% | no public measure | — |
| LEXISNEXIS | 3,721 | 0.3% | no public measure | — |
| CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 2,428 | 0.2% | $662bn assets | 3.67 |
| Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FNIS) | 1,435 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| Resurgent Capital Services L.P. | 1,362 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. | 1,318 | 0.1% | $4.09tn assets | 0.32 |
| CORELOGIC INC | 1,218 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| CL Holdings LLC | 1,177 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| CITIBANK, N.A. | 1,146 | 0.1% | $1.98tn assets | 0.58 |
| SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL | 1,032 | 0.1% | $115bn assets | 8.96 |
| BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 999 | 0.1% | $2.65tn assets | 0.38 |
| Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC | 953 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| WELLS FARGO & COMPANY | 939 | 0.1% | $1.92tn assets | 0.49 |
| Early Warning Services, LLC | 912 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. | 905 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| ALLY FINANCIAL INC. | 819 | 0.1% | $188bn assets | 4.35 |
| NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION | 727 | 0.1% | $204bn assets | 3.56 |
| OneMain Finance Corporation | 679 | 0.1% | no public measure | — |
| Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. | 678 | 0.1% | $21bn assets | 31.9 |
| SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC. | 584 | <0.1% | $104bn assets | 5.62 |
| AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY | 546 | <0.1% | $214bn assets | 2.55 |
| Global Lending Services LLC | 515 | <0.1% | no public measure | — |
| All other companies, including those not listed by name | 20,852 | 1.6% | — | — |
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. 11 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 explanation782,679 · 60.4%
- Closed with non-monetary relief397,297 · 30.7%
- In progress114,575 · 8.8%
- Untimely response771 · 0.1%
- All other categories52 · <0.1%
| Measure | This issue | All issues |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with monetary or non-monetary relief | 33.7% | 31.6% |
| Closed with monetary relief | 0% | 0.5% |
| Responses marked timely | 99.9% | 99.6% |
Trend
Questions and answers
What does the CFPB issue “Improper use of your report” 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. Sub-issues recorded under it include “Reporting company used your report improperly”, “Credit inquiries on your report that you don't recognize”, “Received unsolicited financial product or insurance offers after opting out”.
How many complaints carry this issue?
1,295,374 in the 12 months to 30 Sep 2026 and 3,452,313 since 2017.
Which products does it apply to?
“Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports” (99.9%), “Credit card” (0%), “Student loan” (0%), “Vehicle loan or lease” (0%).
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 30 Sep 2026, complaints received through 30 Sep 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.