This bill establishes new requirements for submitting complaints to the CFPB, including consumer attestations and grounds for financial companies to close unauthorized or unsubstantiated complaints.
Garland "Andy" Barr
Representative
KY-6
This bill, the "Eliminating Fraud in the CFPB’s Complaint Database Act," establishes new requirements for submitting consumer complaints to the CFPB. It mandates that consumers attest to the truthfulness of their complaints and prove they first attempted to resolve the issue directly with the company. Furthermore, the legislation requires the CFPB to protect the confidentiality of complaint narratives while allowing financial companies to close certain unauthorized or frivolous complaints.
CFPB Complaint Database Overhaul: New 60-Day Waiting Period and Mandatory Perjury Warnings for Consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has long been the digital 'suggestion box' for Americans dealing with bank errors or shady lending, but a new bill is looking to add some serious gatekeeping to that process. The 'Eliminating Fraud in the CFPB’s Complaint Database Act' introduces several new hurdles for anyone trying to report a financial issue. Most notably, it requires you to attest under penalty of perjury that your complaint is 100% accurate and mandates that you try to solve the problem directly with the company at least 60 days before the government can step in.
The Pre-Filing Checklist
Under Section 2, the bill creates a 'cool-down' period that might feel more like a roadblock for someone in a pinch. If you notice a suspicious $500 charge on your credit card, you can’t just jump on the CFPB website and file a report immediately. You must first notify the bank and wait two full months. For a single parent or a contractor living paycheck to paycheck, waiting 60 days to escalate a dispute over frozen funds or an incorrect fee could mean the difference between making rent or facing an eviction notice. Additionally, if you’re filing through a representative—like a lawyer or a family member helping an elderly parent—they now have to provide 'sufficient proof of identification,' which includes sensitive docs like a Social Security card or a birth certificate.
Power to the Banks
The bill also gives financial institutions more authority to hit the 'delete' button on your concerns. Companies are granted the power to close a complaint without further action if they determine it is 'frivolous,' 'misleading,' or a duplicate. While this is intended to clear out spam, the bill’s language is a bit vague on what exactly constitutes a 'frivolous' claim. This means a bank could potentially shut down a legitimate but poorly worded complaint from a frustrated customer, leaving that person with fewer options for recourse. If a company does close your file, they just have to tell the CFPB why, and the agency logs it in their database as closed.
The Privacy Trade-Off
In an era of data leaks, privacy is a big deal, and this bill leans heavily into it by making complaint 'narratives'—the actual story you write about what happened—strictly confidential. Currently, some of these stories are shared (anonymously) to help other consumers spot patterns of bad behavior. Under this bill, those stories and the company’s responses stay behind closed doors. While this protects your personal details, it also means the public loses a 'early warning system' for systemic issues. You’ll still see charts and trend data, but the specific details that help people understand exactly how a scam or a billing error works will be scrubbed from public view.