The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government. It was set up to protect all of us regular people from financial scams, fraud, over-charges, bogus charges, false financial reporting, etc.
The CFPB is a powerful agency. When it goes after a finance company, mortgage lender, bank, or credit company, the end result can be a fine of millions of dollars, a lawsuit, or even getting shut down. This is not fun for the guilty party.
If you have been a victim of a financial scam, fraud, bank injustice (such as when Wells Fargo opened new accounts in people’s names without their knowledge or consent), or if one of the credit bureaus refuses to delete false information that is damaging your credit profile, then yes, you should file a complaint.
However, if there is a negative mark on your credit report, a late payment, a collection, or other derogatory, and it really did happen, then you must not file a complaint with the CFPB.
Never lie to a government agency!
Never attempt to throw a business under the bus because you don’t like that they are reporting you late, when you were actually late. That is fraud on your part and can get you in trouble.
Some unscrupulous so-called credit repair businesses have filed CFPB complaints as a so-called strategy to remove negative information. THAT IS FRAUD. There are cases where the credit repair business owner was handcuffed and booked into jail for doing this!
You cannot file a complaint as a bluff. Only file a complaint if what you are saying is 100% true.
If are are a victim, then DO file a complaint, and write with specific details, including dates, dollar amounts, and how you attempted to make it right with the company.
If you have a question about this, feel free to post a reply. The system requires me to read and approve in order to keep out all the spam bots, but I do read every one and I will reply.
Thank you for reading. I truly appreciate you.
I am working on an arrangement with Wells Fargo credit card to pay my balance at a lower amount they have agreed to. They immediately charged off my credit card debt to them when I was forced to file a BK in 2021. I wrote Wells Fargo and continued to make monthly payments for several months before I received in writing from them a monthly payment schedule. Now, I want to pay the reduced balance of $2,000.00. They are reducing the amount owed by $2,200.00. But they still want to leave the “charged off” amount of over $6,000.00 on my credit report. What can I do to get the correct info on my credit report?
2) I had to file the BK to protect myself from a neighbor who wanted to sue me. Once, the BK was filed the neighbor stopped harrassing me. I did not proceed with the BK and an Order Dismissing Case For Failure to Timely File Documents was filled on 8/2/21 by the court. But the credit bureaus do not list that the BK was dismissed. How can I get the information on my credit report that the BK was dismissed?
Thank you for your help. I have purchased both of your books but I do not see where they talk about my kind of credit bureau problems. Thanks for your advice.
I don’t know which books you have, but Repair Your Credit Like the Pros is all about credit bureau problems. It is all about cleaning up, correcting, and restoring credit. Anything on your credit report that is not accurate, timely, and verifiable must be removed. You have the right to an accurate and updated credit report profile.
1) You need to get an agreement IN WRITING from Wells Fargo that states the payment arrangement, including the amount and date. In that agreement, you also want it stated that they will delete the account upon receipt of funds. If you want to email me, I will send you a real sample letter that shows how it’s written.
2) You don’t want to update your report to say the BK was dismissed. A BK dismissal is not good for your credit! You want the entire BK deleted on the grounds that it is factually inaccurate. You don’t state why or how it is inaccurate. It is simply a demand to delete on the basis that it is factually inaccurate.
Wonderful advice. I will write per your instructions. Thanks.
This is great, but what if you are guilty of late payments, but there’s an agreement for the creditor to eliminate the negative remark from the credit bureau and they haven’t. Is this worthy of a complaint to the CFPB of you have proof that there was an agreement?
Julie, I have not heard of a company violating their agreement to delete upon receipt of payment. I would want to know how much time has passed, if you have called or emailed and asked the creditor when they will be upholding their part of the agreement. I would first write to the creditor, include a copy of the agreement, and inform them that if the deletion wasn’t performed, I would file a complaint with the CFPB. It would be my last resort. If you have done all of that and have waited 30 days past the time they received funds, then I would file a complaint that said, “X Company has failed to uphold our written Agreement dated x/x/xx. I want them to comply with the terms they agreed to.” Just that, not stating anything about the late payments.