See how the complaint process works
Watch this short video to find out what to include in your complaint and what will happen after you submit.
Find answers before you start a complaint
We currently accept complaints about:
- Checking and savings accounts
- Credit cards
- Credit reports and other personal consumer reports
- Debt collection
- Debt and credit management
- Money transfers, virtual currency, and money services
- Mortgages
- Payday loans
- Personal loans like installment, advance, and title loans
- Prepaid cards
- Student loans
- Vehicle loans or leases
If you don't see the product or service you want to complain about listed, check out usa.gov to find other places to submit complaints. It includes ways to submit complaints about phone, internet, and cable companies as well as companies that sell other products and services and more.
If you think you’ve been a victim of scam, there are a few important steps you should take right away.
Have you tried reaching out to the company? Companies can usually answer questions unique to your situation and more specific to the products and services they offer.
Or, you can search for answers to consumers’ most frequently asked financial questions.
You generally can’t submit a second complaint about the same problem, so include this information to help the company respond to your complaint.
Key facts in your own words
- Be clear and concise about the problem you’re having
- Include only the most important dates, amounts, and communications you’ve had with the company
Documents
- Attach documents that support the facts like account statements and communications with the company. Limit: 50 pages
- If you’re submitting for someone else, note that companies generally require signed, written authorization provided directly by their customer before responding to someone other than their customer. If you have written authorization, consider attaching it.
Company you're complaining about
- Select a company from the list in the form. We will forward your complaint directly to this company and ask for a response.
- If you don’t see the company, provide complete contact information for the company. If we can’t send the complaint to that company, we’ll let you know what you can do next.
Your contact information
- You will need to provide your name, email, and phone number to create your secure account.
- You will need to provide your address. Without this, the company won't be able to respond to your complaint.
- If you are submitting for someone else, you must disclose your relationship to the consumer and that you are submitting a complaint on their behalf.
Your complaint goes through several steps that help you get a response and help us identify problems in the marketplace.
1. Complaint submitted
You submit a complaint, or another government agency forwards your complaint to us. You will receive email updates and can check the status of your complaint.
2. Route
We'll send your complaint directly to the company so it can review the issues in your complaint. If we find that another government agency would be better able to assist, we will send your complaint to them and let you know.
3. Company response
The company will communicate with you as needed and respond to the issues in your complaint. Companies generally respond in 15 days. In some cases, the company will let you know their response is in progress and provide a final response in 60 days.
4. Complaint published
We publish information about your complaint (without information that directly identifies you) in our public Consumer Complaint Database. With your consent we also publish your description of what happened, after taking steps to remove personal information. Learn more about how we share complaint data.
5. Consumer review
We will let you know when the company responds. You’ll be able to review the company’s response and will have 60 days to provide feedback about the company's response.
If you suspect a scam, there are a few important steps you should take right away.
- Contact your local police or sheriff’s office to report the scam.
- Contact your state attorney general. Visit the National Association of Attorneys General website for the contact information of each state attorney general.
- If the victim is an older person or a person with a disability, contact your local adult protective services agency. You can find your state or local agency that receives and investigates reports of suspected elder financial exploitation by using the online Eldercare Locator or calling (800) 677-1116.
- If you or someone you care about is the victim of a fraud, scam or financial exploitation, you can report the fraud or scam to the Federal Trade Commission.
Because all scams are different, you might have to reach out to a number of other local, state, and federal agencies depending on your situation.
Ready to begin?
Submitting online usually takes less than 10 minutes. Include everything you need to because you generally can’t submit a second complaint about the same problem.
Start a new complaint
- Learn more about how we share your complaint data
- If you've already submitted a complaint, you can check the status of your complaint.
Witness a violation while working for a company?
You can report a tip to us, through a separate process if you are a current or former employee of a company that has violated federal consumer financial laws or if you are an industry insider who knows about such a company.
Alert us of a potential violation
