My Company Received a CFPB Complaint: What Happens Next

Q: How do I check what complaints already exist against my company?

Search your company directly on this site's Complaint Lookup tool, or query the CFPB's own Consumer Complaint Database directly.

If you’re seeing this because a customer told you they “filed a CFPB complaint,” or you got a notice from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s company portal, here’s the short version: it’s not a lawsuit, a fine, or a finding that your company did anything wrong. It’s a routed customer complaint that you’re generally expected to respond to within 15 days. How you handle those 15 days affects your public record far more than the complaint itself does.

How would I even find out a complaint was filed?

If your company is registered on the CFPB’s company portal (most banks, lenders, debt collectors, and credit bureaus above a certain size are), you’ll get a notification through that portal directly — not a phone call, and not always an email to a general inbox, which is why complaints sometimes get missed if the portal account isn’t monitored by the right person. If you’re not sure your company is registered or who has portal access internally, that’s worth confirming before you assume “we’d have heard about it already.”

What’s the actual timeline?

The complaint is routed to you through the company portal, typically within a day or two of the CFPB receiving it.
You generally have 15 days to respond. In some cases, you can report that a response is in progress and provide a final response within 60 days instead — but that’s an exception, not the default clock.
Your response gets published alongside the complaint (with the consumer’s personal identifiers stripped out) in the public Consumer Complaint Database, once you respond or the 15 days pass, whichever comes first.
The consumer gets to respond to your response. They generally have 60 days to tell the CFPB whether your response actually resolved the issue.

Is the complaint public? Does it show up with my company’s name attached?

Yes, generally. Once you respond (or the response window passes), the complaint is typically published in the public Consumer Complaint Database with the consumer’s identifying details removed — but your company name stays attached, and the complaint becomes part of your company’s searchable, aggregable complaint record. That’s also the same data this site’s Complaint Lookup tool and most complained-about debt collectors ranking pull from directly — anyone, including a reporter, competitor, or potential customer, can look up your company’s full complaint history at any time.

What if I just don’t respond?

Companies are generally expected to respond within 15 days, and a non-response is itself tracked and visible in the public database — it doesn’t disappear or get treated as a neutral outcome. A pattern of non-responses is also the kind of thing that shows up in this site’s own response-rate rankings, which specifically calls out companies with poor timely-response rates. Responding, even briefly, is almost always better for your public record than silence.

Will this affect my business?

A single complaint, on its own, rarely does much — the database exists precisely because complaints are common and expected at any scale. What compounds into a real reputational or regulatory issue is a pattern: a high volume of complaints relative to your size, a low response rate, or complaints repeatedly citing the same unresolved issue. If you’re trying to gauge where your company actually stands, check your own record on Complaint Lookup rather than guessing from a single complaint in isolation.

How do I actually respond well?

Respond within the window, even if the investigation isn’t finished. A “we’re looking into this” response inside 15 days is better for your record than a thorough response that misses the deadline.
Address the specific issue raised, not a generic template. The CFPB and the consumer can both see whether your response actually engages with what was complained about.
Keep your portal contacts current. A complaint that lands in the wrong inbox and gets missed reads publicly the same as a company that ignored it on purpose.
If you believe the complaint is inaccurate or the account isn’t yours, say so specifically in your response — the response is your one chance to put your side of the record next to the consumer’s.

Questions & Answers

Is a CFPB complaint the same as a lawsuit or an investigation?

No. It's a routed customer complaint that the company is expected to respond to — it doesn't itself allege a legal violation, open an investigation, or impose a penalty. A pattern of complaints can attract regulatory attention, but a single complaint does not.