On January 28,2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its latest monthly consumer complaint snapshot (Snapshot) focusing on consumer complaints related to debt settlement, check cashing, money orders and credit repair. As the Snapshot indicates, complaints from consumers in these areas focus largely on fraud and failures of customer service. Findings in the Snapshot included: excessive fees for debt settlement and credit repair services (these complaints encompass 60% of the complaints in the area of other financial services); problems redeeming money orders; and fraud when consumers use money orders or travelers checks. In the geographic spotlight on New York, the complaint analysis of the CFPB indicated that mortgages are the most complained about product, which accounts for roughly 25-27% of the complaints coming from New York. The Snapshot also indicates that complaint volume and trends from New York are generally consistent with national trends.

As of January 1, 2016, the CFPB indicates that they have handled more than 790,000 complaints across all products. The most recent Snapshot can be found at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201601_cfpb_monthly-complaint-report-vol-7.pdf.