U.S. Consumer Hotline Suffers Technical Glitches

Some consumer complaints about credit cards have not reached banks that issued the cards because of technical glitches in the new platform created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, regulators and industry groups said. The complaint response system, launched in July, has failed to properly route all inquiries, an error bureau spokeswoman Jen Howard said the agency will fix "within a matter of weeks." Howard did not say how many complaints have not been received. The agency introduced the system, which is required under the Dodd-Frank Act, on July 21. Its Web site invites users of credit cards and other forms of credit to file complaints, and will eventually accept complaints about other financial services. Previously complaints about banks were addressed by agencies including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Federal Reserve, all of which now direct calls to the bureau. Howard said some issuers did not receive complaints filed through the agency's Web site because of "browser compatibility issues." As they were settled, the issuers consequently experienced a "one-time increase" in complaints submitted through the consumer agency.

Bloomberg (08/30/11) Dougherty, Carter