Though complaints related to residential loans have worsened over the past year, their rise falls short of complaints for all financial services.
U.S. consumers filed an average of 22,612 complaints per month against financial services providers between September
and November.
Compared to the same three-month period in 2014, when an average of 19,928 complaints were filed, reports have increased 13 percent.
That was according to Volume 6 of the Monthly Complaint Report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Average monthly complaints filed
just against mortgage firms worsened by eight percent from a year earlier to 4,362.
During only November 2015,
there were 4,045 mortgage complaints filed — 10 percent fewer than in October. Since the complaint database was started, there have been 205,915 mortgage complaints filed with the CFPB.
“Debt collection, mortgage, and credit reporting complaints continue to be the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing about 68 percent of complaints submitted in November 2015,” the report stated.
Based on average monthly complaints from July 2015 to September 2015 — which allows two months for companies to
research and respond to complaints — and estimating the volume levels from a visual observation of a graphic image, Wells Fargo faced the most complaints: approximately 500. However, the San Francisco-based firm is the biggest originator and servicer in the nation — leaving its complaint standing on par with its market share.
No. 2
Bank of America was hit with maybe 400 complaints. BofA was the fourth-biggest lender and No. 3 servicer as of the second quarter of this year.
With
nearly 400 average complaints, Ocwen Financial Corp. landed in third position. However, given that the Atlanta-based organization doesn’t even rank among the 10-biggest originators and was just the seventh-largest servicer — its standing among the complaint rankings is among the worst.
But redemption for Ocwen is possible as time passes since the boarding by new servicers of accounts associated with its recent sales of mortgage servicing rights. With fewer accounts associated with Ocwen and less servicing transfers near the period in question, complaints could see a drop off.
Next was Nationstar Mortgage with in the neighborhood of 350 average complaints.
The Dallas-based firm, which didn’t rank among the 10-biggest lenders, was the fourth-biggest servicer.
No. 5 JPMorgan Chase had an average that exceeded 300 complaints during the latest period — not bad given its No. 2 originator and servicer standing.
At Citibank, monthly mortgage complaints averaged well in excess of 100. Citi was the ninth-largest originator and
fifth-biggest servicer.
With maybe around 20 mortgage complaints, Capital One — which is not among the 10-largest residential loan companies — faced the seventh-most complaints.
Still absent from the CFPB’s complaint ranking was Quicken Loans Inc., which was the
third-biggest mortgage lender in the country as of the second quarter and the ninth-largest servicer.
