Dive Brief:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received 70,000 complaints about credit cards last year, the most for any payment method, and a 38% increase from the year before, according to a report last week from the agency.
• Checking and saving accounts garnered a slightly lower number of complaints last year, with 64,500 complaints, a 33% increase from the year before, the report said. About 80% of those complaints were with checking accounts specifically.
• Consumers complained to the CFPB that “credit cards were fraudulently opened in their names,” the report said. And complaints about checking or savings accounts often included transactions connected to peer-to-peer payment platforms.

Dive Insight:

The CFPB reported that nearly 80% of the consumer complaints it received last year had to do with credit reports, including those provided by the three largest providers of such information, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

The bureau also found that fraud was a common concern for consumers for nearly every kind of financial product.

When it came to credit cards, the leading type of all card-related complaints at 23% was about inaccurate or unauthorized charges on a consumer’s statement. Those charges were related to fraudulent activity, as well as disputes with merchants, the report said. The CFPB did not immediately respond to questions about how many complaints were related to fraud and how many were related to merchant disputes.

In addition to complaints about charges, consumers also complained about not receiving credit card rewards and promotional benefits. Once the bureau raised the issue on behalf of consumers, “companies sometimes responded by providing consumers with expected rewards or promotions and in some cases apologies for delays,” the report said. 

But the bureau does not appear to be satisfied with card companies’ management of rewards programs overall, according to Daniel Perlin, a managing director at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets.

Perlin cited a Reuters news report indicating the CFPB plans to examine the card rewards market because of a rise in complaints, with the agency “particularly interested in products aimed at affluent clients.” He pointed to CFPB concern over the loyalty programs hiding information and mischaracterizing point schemes.

The CFPB has announced that it plans to launch a credit card comparison tool. The agency has said that some card issuers employ “bait-and-switch” tactics with rewards programs. The bureau did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would take additional action against card companies that it believed were misleading consumers about rewards.