In Barbara Mishkin’s post on July 25, she questioned why the CFPB’s online questionnaire to be used by cardholders submitting complaints about their card issuers asks the leading question, “Do you believe the issue involved discrimination?”
I have recently learned that, while the CFPB intends to share with card issuers the cardholders’ answers to all other questions contained in the questionnaire, it has refused to let card issuers know the answer to the discrimination question. As a matter of fundamental fairness, card issuers should know when a cardholder accuses it of discrimination. For a government agency that prides itself on transparency, the CFPB has made a decision that seems contrary to that healthy philosophy.
So far, the CFPB has not begun to share any of the complaints with card issuers, one week after the online complaint process began. What is the CFPB waiting for? Cardholders submitting complaints will mistakenly believe that the delay in receiving a response is the fault of card issuers rather than result of the CFPB’s failure to share the complaints with the card issuers.