The nation’s regulator of consumer financial products wants feedback about how to present data from its controversial complaint database.
More than
7,700 anonymous complaints about financial services providers, including mortgage firms, were posted for public viewing by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week.
Public disclosure of the complaints has raised a number of concerns within the financial services industry because of limitations about how lenders can respond, complaint validity, consumer confusion and privacy.
While the database included more than 627,000 records at last count, only complaints from consumers who have volunteered their grievances for public consumption will be published.
In a public filing Tuesday, the bureau said it is soliciting and gathering
input from the public on how data are presented in the database.
The CFPB wants feedback on “normalizing”
the raw complaint data so they are easier for the public to understand.
“This transformation increases the interoperability of ‘raw’ data — that is, the extent to which different users can share and make use of the data because they have a common understanding of its meaning,” the filing stated. “Commenters offered various suggestions on how to approach normalization during the public comment period leading up to the establishment of the database; the comments’ variety highlighted differing and sometimes conflicting perspectives and concerns.”
Comments are being accepted until Aug. 31 and can be presented electronically at www.regulations.gov/ or by mail to Monica Jackson, Office of the Executive Secretary, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20006.
