As part of its on-line credit card complaint system, the CFPB has set up a portal to serve as the interface between the CFPB and card issuers.  (In earlier blog postings, we described the kinds of information the CFPB’s complaint form asks consumers to provide and the CFPB’s about- face on sharing discrimination claims with issuers.)  The CFPB’s “Company Portal Manual,” which it recently shared with staff of the American Bankers Association and other industry representatives, gives a clearer picture of how the complaint system is intended to work.

According to the manual, the CFPB’s goal is to alert an issuer that it is the target of a complaint within 24-48 hours of receipt by sending the issuer an e-mail containing the case number assigned by the CFPB. The issuer is then expected to  log into the portal and, on the issuer’s complaint page, click on the case number to view the consumer’s complaint information. After looking at that information, the issuer is expected to respond to the consumer within 10 calendar days and update the portal by completing a form that calls for it to provide a “short message explaining the resolution provided,” choose the “appropriate resolution status” from four possible resolution statuses listed in a drop down menu, upload “any documents relevant to the complaint” and click “send.” The CFPB is then supposed to send an e-mail to the consumer with the complaint’s status and update the status on the consumer portal that consumers can use to check the status of their complaints.

The CFPB acknowledges there have been various glitches in its complaint system, including incidents in which issuers did not receive e-mail alerts when complaints were received. It attributes those glitches to issuers using older versions of browsers that are not compatible with its system. The manual lists compatible browsers and provides responses to some FAQs about problems with the system.