Consumer Complaint Database vulnerable to bad actors, AI-generated comments
Action is needed to deter bad actors from using the CPFB’s Consumer Complaint Database, which ultimately results in companies dedicating resources to manage complaints that may not be accurate. America’s Credit Unions joined other trade organizations Monday to share these concerns with Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought.
The CFPB moved the database to the front of its website, and entities are using artificial intelligence-generated duplicative comments to “flood the database with no regard for consumers’ best interests,” and the bureau should address these abuses, along with others detailed in the letter.
“Many of the ‘complaints’ in the portal are business inquiries that the CFPB should leave to the consumers and businesses,” the letter reads. “Furthermore, the CFPB has not established clear guidance for companies receiving complaints on how they should assess the materiality of the complaint, nor how they should engage with immaterial complaints. In combination with the overly broad definition of complaint, companies face significant uncertainty and must dedicate substantial resources in an effort to remain compliant with overtly ill-defined consumer complaint requirements and compliance processes.”
Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to report to Congress and the president the number of consumer complaints and certain analyses of the complaints but does not mandate the bureau publicly display the database.
“The current public nature of the database creates perverse incentives and does not prioritize reconciling issues between consumers and businesses,” the letter reads. “This has been exacerbated in recent weeks when the complaint database has been moved to the front page of the CFPB website.”
Other federal agencies, including the NCUA, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, have non-public databases, the organizations note, and aligning the CFPB with this would narrow the scope to Congressional intent.