FDIC Consumer Complaint Surge Led by Credit Reporting Disputes

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) processed a surge in consumer complaints in 2024, with credit cards being the most frequently cited product and credit reporting disputes being the most common issue.

The agency’s National Center for Consumer and Depositor Assistance, Consumer Response Unit (CRU), registered 26,451 written complaints and telephone inquiries last year, marking a 14% increase from the 23,290 records closed in 2023, according to the July edition of the FDIC’s Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights.

The annual publication shares information about the FDIC’s consumer compliance supervisory activities and the consumer compliance issues it identified during the past year, according to a letter the FDIC released Thursday (July 3) along with the report.

The CRU acknowledged all written complaints within 14 days and responded to about 99% within established timeframes, according to the report.

Of the complaints closed, 10,860 were directly investigated by the CRU, leading to the identification of 305 apparent errors and 132 apparent federal consumer protection regulation violations by institutions, the report said.

Credit cards emerged as the most frequent banking product cited in complaints, followed by checking accounts, installment loans and residential real estate loans, with credit reporting disputes and discrepancy transaction errors being the most common issues raised, per the report.

Third-party providers (TPPs) were implicated in 4,282 consumer complaint cases, reflecting a nearly 13% increase from the prior year and leading to 116 identified apparent violations of federal consumer protection violations.

The FDIC cited a total of 1,275 violations of consumer protection statutes and regulations in 2024, with the top five most frequently cited accounting for 73% of this total. The consumer protection statutes and violations that were most frequently violated were the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Flood Disaster Protection Act (FDPA), the Truth in Savings Act (TISA), the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HDMA).

FDIC-supervised institutions provided $33.3 million in voluntary restitution payments to about 400,000 consumers for various consumer protection law violations identified through examinations.

Ninety-seven percent of all FDIC-supervised institutions received satisfactory or better ratings for consumer compliance as of Dec. 31, 2024.

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