Consumer Protection Agencies — Where to File a Credit Complaint in 2026

Which agency handles what

When you have a credit problem — a bogus debt, a credit-bureau error, a credit-repair company that took your money — the right agency depends on what kind of problem it is. Filing with the wrong one can mean months of waiting only to be told you need to file somewhere else. Here's the decision tree.

Problem	Best first agency	Why
Credit-repair company violated CROA	CFPB + state AG	Both have direct CROA enforcement authority
Credit-bureau won't fix an error	CFPB	Bureaus respond to CFPB complaints within 15 days
Debt collector breaks FDCPA rules	CFPB + FTC + private attorney	FDCPA has private right of action with attorney's fees
Lender denied credit without notice	CFPB	ECOA + FCRA adverse-action requirements
Identity theft	FTC + local police	identitytheft.gov is the federal recovery portal
Mortgage servicer abuse	CFPB	Mortgage servicing is heavily regulated under RESPA
State-licensed credit-services act violation	state AG + state licensing	The state has the registration
Generic complaint, smaller dollar amount	BBB	Not a regulator, but companies respond to protect their rating

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Established by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the CFPB is the single most effective consumer-protection agency for credit issues. It has enforcement authority over CROA, FCRA, FDCPA, ECOA, RESPA, TILA, and a dozen other federal consumer-credit statutes.

How to file: consumerfinance.gov/complaint

What happens after you file:

1. The CFPB reviews your complaint and forwards it to the company within 5 business days.
2. The company has 15 days to respond, typically with a "this is being researched" placeholder.
3. The company has 60 days to provide a final response.
4. You can read the response in your CFPB portal and rate whether the issue was resolved.
5. Your complaint and the response (anonymized) become part of the public Consumer Complaint Database — a powerful tool because companies know that future customers will see how they handled past issues.

The CFPB does not represent you in court, but it tracks patterns of complaints. When it sees the same company generating hundreds of similar complaints, that triggers investigations and enforcement actions that often result in settlements with consumer restitution.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The FTC is the original federal consumer-protection agency. It has direct enforcement authority for the FCRA, CROA, FDCPA, and the FTC Act's prohibition on "unfair or deceptive acts or practices."

How to file: reportfraud.ftc.gov

What happens after you file:

The FTC doesn't follow up on individual complaints the way the CFPB does. Instead, your complaint enters the Consumer Sentinel Network — a database used by FTC investigators, state attorneys general, and other law-enforcement agencies. When the FTC sees enough complaints to justify an investigation, it brings a civil action seeking restitution and penalties.

The FTC is especially worth using for:

• Credit-repair scams that operate across state lines
• "New credit identity" / CPN fraud
• Misleading credit-monitoring or credit-score products
• Bogus debt-collection campaigns

Your state attorney general

Every state has a consumer-protection division within the attorney general's office. State AGs have authority to:

• Bring civil actions under the state's consumer-protection statute (often called a UDAP — Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Act).
• Enforce the state's credit-services act (if one exists — see our (/resources/credit-repair-laws-state/)).
• Coordinate with state licensing authorities that issue and revoke credit-repair company registrations.

How to file: every state AG has a complaint portal on its website. Search " attorney general consumer complaint."

State AGs are often more effective than federal agencies for local issues because they can subpoena, deposition, and litigate locally. Many recent credit-repair industry shutdowns started with a state AG complaint.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB)

The BBB is not a government agency and has no enforcement authority. It is, however, the single most-checked source for credit-repair company reputation. Filing a BBB complaint:

• Forces the company to respond publicly (or accept a downgrade).
• Builds a public paper trail for future consumers doing due diligence.
• In aggregate, lowers a company's BBB rating — which can lower its conversion rate and force operational change.

How to file: bbb.org → find the business → "File a Complaint."

Use the BBB in parallel with the CFPB or state AG, not as a substitute. The BBB resolves the public-reputation piece while the regulator pursues legal accountability.

Private legal action

Several federal credit-protection laws give consumers a private right of action — meaning you can sue the company directly without waiting for a regulator. The most important ones for credit issues:

• FCRA — § 1681n (willful violations) and § 1681o (negligent violations). Damages include actual loss, statutory damages of $100–$1,000 per willful violation, attorney's fees, and (in egregious cases) punitive damages.
• FDCPA — § 1692k. Damages include actual loss, statutory damages up to $1,000, and attorney's fees.
• CROA — § 1679g. Damages include actual loss, punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

Because all three include attorney's fee shifting, most consumer-protection attorneys handle these cases on contingency. You typically pay nothing up front, and the defendant pays your attorney's fees if you win.

What to include in any complaint

Whichever agency or court you choose, an effective complaint includes:

1. Who — the exact legal name of the company, its address, and (if known) the names of the people you dealt with.
2. What happened — a concise chronological narrative.
3. When — specific dates, ideally backed by documents.
4. What you want — refund, deletion of an item, an injunction, damages.
5. What you've tried — calls, emails, formal disputes, with dates.
6. Documentation — the contract, payment receipts, dispute responses, emails. Attach what you can.

Vague complaints get vague responses. Specific complaints get specific responses.

Bottom line

The CFPB is your default first stop for almost any credit-related issue. The FTC and state AG add weight. The BBB protects future consumers. And for serious harm, a consumer-protection attorney can often pursue private damages at no out-of-pocket cost to you. File early, file accurately, file in writing.

If you're picking a credit-repair company, (/#top-companies) — every one has been vetted for a clean CFPB and BBB record.