New federal website logs credit card complaints

NBC News - A new federal website is designed to take complaints from people unhappy with their credit cards, but skeptics question if any action will actually be taken.

The Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s consumer database breaks down the entries by bank, by categories, by zip code and more to catalog complaints against the country’s largest banks and their credit cards.

Capital One, Citibank, Chase and Bank of America top off the list with the most complaints.

The reports are void of personal names and only provide one line to indicate if the issue has been resolved. San Diego State finance professor David Ely, says the site may be the first step in encouraging big banks to resolve more consumer complaints.

“No issuer wants to be identified as the institution that has the most complaints filed against it,” Ely said.

So far the number one consumer complaint is billing disputes followed by interest rates, account cancelations and credit reports.

Reports indicate that while the database deals exclusively in credit cards, it is possible that future expansions can include complaints about mortgages and other financial products.