CFPB’s Consumer Response and Student Loan Complaints

Have you been wondering about the details coming out of the CFPB consumer complaint process? We’ve started to look at the data. Below is a summary of the data we’re seeing related to student loans, when the issue reported is “problems when you are unable to pay.”

We looked at all complaints in the database to date. In the category described above, there were 1254 complaints logged between March 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 (a period of 16 months). Forty three unique companies are named, including a handful of third party collection agencies – however those agencies received literally only a few complaints (less than 10) over this 16-month period.

Company	complaints	% of total
Sallie Mae	615	49.0%
AES/PHEAA	149	11.9%
Wells Fargo	94	7.5%
JPMorgan Chase	87	6.9%
Citibank	63	5.0%
KeyBank NA	52	4.1%
Discover	22	1.8%
ACS Education Services	21	1.7%
First Marblehead Education Resources	17	1.4%
RBS Citizens	14	1.1%
Access Group	12	1.0%
Nelnet	12	1.0%
Loan To Learn	9
Bank of America	8
Expert Global Solutions, Inc.	8
Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA)	8
U.S. Bancorp	8
Weltman, Weinberg & Reis	7
PNC Bank	6
First Associates Loan Servicing LLC	3
Heartland Payment Systems	3
Iowa Student Loan	3
New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC)-	3
SunTrust Bank	3
Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education	2
Brazos Loan Servicing	2
ConServe	2
Integrity Solution Services, Inc.	2
MEFA	2
MOHELA	2
South Carolina Student Loan	2
United Guaranty	2
Allied International Credit Corporation	1
Coast Professional, Inc.	1
College Loan Corporation	1
East West Bank	1
GC Services Limited Partnership	1
Genesis Lending	1
Granite State Management & Resources	1
Rhode Island Student Loan Authority	1
Student Loan Finance Corporation	1
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board	1
United Student Aid (USA) Funds	1
	1254

Among these complaints, 64.7% were “closed with explanation,” while 1.8% were still in progress. 98.6% of complaints were responded to on a timely basis, and consumers disputed the response in just under 19% of the cases. The vast majority of complaints were submitted over the web. Here is the full breakdown:

COMPANY RESPONSE
closed with explanation	811	64.7%
closed without relief	161	12.8%
closed with non-monetary relief	141	11.2%
closed with monetary relief	80	6.4%
closed with relief	24	1.9%
closed	15	1.2%
in progress	22	1.8%
Total	1254	100.0%

TIMELY RESPONSE
yes	1236	98.6%
no	18	1%
Total	1254	100.0%

CONSUMER DISPUTED
no	872	69.5%
yes	233	18.6%
blank	149	11.9%
Total	1254	100.0%

SUBMITTED VIA
web	984	78.8%
referral	141	11.3%
phone	75	6.0%
postal mail	36	2.9%
fax	13	1.0%
	1249	100.0%