The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to make it more difficult for Americans to file complaints against the three major credit repositories, the National Consumer Law Center alleges.

This effort could carry over to other products covered by the complaint portal, the organization added.

"Last year, consumers filed nearly five million complaints with the CFPB regarding credit reporting, mostly against the Big Three credit bureaus, one of the worst oligopolies in this country," said NCLC Director of Consumer Reporting and Data Advocacy Chi Chi Wu in a press release. "Those huge numbers reflect the massive issues caused by mistakes and other problems that people have with their credit reports."

But instead of fixing these problems, Russell Vought, the CFPB's acting director, is caving "to the industry's demands to sweep the problem under the rug by suppressing the volume of complaints," Wu claimed.

In November, CFPB started a 60-day comment period on the Consumer Response Intake Form; an additional 30-day comment request was started in a Jan. 30 Federal Register filing.

Credit reporting has been a leading source of complaints. Officials during Pres. Trump's first term considered stopping the publicizing of complaints but settled for changes to combat the perception that a complaint against a financial firm is proof of guilt.

The CFPB complaint portal proposal from the credit bureaus

The organization that represents the credit bureaus, the Consumer Data Industry Association, filed a letter in response to the initial request. Its comments recommend CFPB "hew more closely to its statutory authority" granted in the Dodd-Frank Act, which "does not authorize the Bureau to publish complaint information wholesale."

The Bureau must ensure that the information collected is accurate and used only as contemplated by law, and it needs to take steps to end the misuse of the portal by credit repair organizations and others engaged in credit washing tactics, the CDIA wrote.

Credit washing is a tactic seen in other forms of credit granting, although its use in obtaining mortgages is anecdotally on the rise. It is a practice where credit repair companies or individuals challenge an accurate trade line on a credit report, taking advantage of a loophole which has this information removed while an investigation is conducted.

"We will continue to urge regulators to act in accordance with their statutory authority and to stop enabling credit repair tactics that ultimately weaken the entire credit ecosystem," the statement said

The CDIA calls on the Bureau to put a "prominent notice" at the start of the process saying consumer complaints on credit reports should only be submitted if the provider has already been contracted.

The notice also would address complaints written by third parties (they would need to have legal authority to do so) and as well as ones which knowingly provide incorrect information.

It wants the CFPB to monitor or restrict IP addresses to block bots and credit repair organizations from submitting complaints on behalf of multiple consumers.

For those which do have a legitimate need to submit multiple complaints, CFPB should create a registration process.

The CDIA proposal also calls for two factor authentication and requires more identification from consumers and/or third parties when a complaint is made.

Why the NCLC objects

The NCLC raised several objections to the CDIA's request. Incorrect information on a credit report can cost families in higher interest payments, if they can get a loan to buy a house or a car, or open a small business, in the first place, Wu said.

This is taking place against a backdrop where the Trump administration has challenged the credit bureaus over pricing. In the effort to reduce costs, the Mortgage Bankers Association is calling for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow for a single credit score. Meanwhile, the Community Home Lenders of America says the secondary market needs to retain the current tri-merge.

NCLC also worries that the change would affect complaints made against other entities such as mortgage lenders, big banks and debt collectors.

"The number of consumer debt collection complaints is exploding, increasing more than four times in the span of two years, from 2023 to 2025," April Kuehnhoff, NCLC senior attorney, said.

"We need a CFPB that can help consumers resolve their complaints, enforce consumer protection laws, and supervise the debt collection industry — not throw up artificial barriers to consumers calling on the federal government for help," Kuehnhoff continued.