CFPB Consumer Complaint Intelligence MCP — 5M+ Complaints Database

Search and analyze 5 million+ CFPB consumer complaints via a fully MCP-compatible server. Query by company, product category, state, issue type, and date range. Track complaint trends, identify systemic problems, and monitor company response rates. Works directly with Claude Desktop, Cursor, GPT-4 plugins, and any MCP client. No API key required.

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What This Actor Does

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) maintains the largest public database of consumer financial complaints in the United States. Every complaint submitted against a financial company — banks, credit card issuers, credit bureaus, mortgage servicers, debt collectors, student loan servicers — is recorded and made publicly available.

This Apify actor wraps the CFPB Complaint Search API in a production-grade MCP server.

In batch mode, you specify a company, product, state, or search term. The actor fetches matching complaints, normalises them into clean records, and pushes results to the Apify dataset.

In MCP server mode, the actor starts a lightweight HTTP server on port 4321. Your AI assistant can call any of the 4 MCP tools in real time.

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What the Database Contains

• 5M+ complaints submitted since 2011
• Companies: 7,000+ financial institutions
• Products: Credit cards, mortgages, student loans, auto loans, debt collection, credit reporting, checking accounts, prepaid cards, payday loans, money transfers
• Fields: company name, product, sub-product, issue, sub-issue, consumer narrative (when consent provided), company response, timeliness, state, ZIP code
• Updated: Daily by CFPB

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MCP Tools

search_complaints

Full-text and filtered search across the CFPB complaint database.

{
  "name": "search_complaints",
  "arguments": {
    "company": "Equifax",
    "product": "Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports",
    "state": "CA",
    "limit": 25
  }
}

Returns records with: complaint_id, date_received, product, sub_product, issue, company, state, company_response, timely_response, consumer_disputed, narrative (first 300 chars if consented), source.

Available filters:

• query — full-text search in narratives
• company — company name (partial match)
• product — product category
• state — US state code (CA, NY, TX, etc.)
• date_from / date_to — date range (YYYY-MM-DD)
• limit — number of results (max 100)

get_company_stats

Aggregate complaint statistics for a specific company.

{
  "name": "get_company_stats",
  "arguments": {
    "company": "JPMorgan Chase",
    "year": 2024
  }
}

Returns:

• Total complaint volume
• Product breakdown (which product types generate the most complaints)
• Company response breakdown (closed with monetary relief, closed without relief, in progress, untimely response)
• Top complaint issues
• Top states by complaint volume

get_product_trends

Complaint trends for a product category — useful for identifying which companies are generating systemic issues in a given market segment.

{
  "name": "get_product_trends",
  "arguments": {
    "product": "Mortgage",
    "state": "FL"
  }
}

Returns:

• Total complaints in scope
• Top companies by complaint count
• Most common issues
• State distribution
• Company response breakdown

top_complained_companies

Rank financial companies by total complaint volume. Filter by product, state, and year.

{
  "name": "top_complained_companies",
  "arguments": {
    "product": "Credit card",
    "year": 2024,
    "limit": 10
  }
}

Returns a ranked list of companies with their complaint counts.

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Input Parameters (Batch Mode)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
company	string	""	Company name filter
product	string	""	Product category filter
state	string	""	US state code filter
query	string	""	Full-text search
dateFrom	string	""	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	""	End date (YYYY-MM-DD)
limit	integer	25	Max results (max 100)
serveMcp	boolean	false	Start MCP server on port 4321

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Output Record Schema

{
  "complaint_id": "6789012",
  "date_received": "2024-03-15",
  "product": "Credit card",
  "sub_product": "General-purpose credit card or charge card",
  "issue": "Problem with a purchase shown on your statement",
  "sub_issue": "Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute",
  "company": "JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.",
  "state": "NY",
  "zip_code": "100XX",
  "consumer_consent_provided": "Consent provided",
  "company_response": "Closed with monetary relief",
  "timely_response": "Yes",
  "consumer_disputed": "No",
  "narrative": "I noticed an unauthorized charge of $2,300 on my Chase Sapphire card...",
  "source": "consumerfinance.gov"
}

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Product Categories

The CFPB organises complaints into the following product categories:

Product	Description
Credit card	General-purpose and store-branded credit cards
Mortgage	Home purchase, refinance, HELOC, reverse mortgage
Student loan	Federal and private student loans, PSLF issues
Vehicle loan or lease	Auto loans and leases
Debt collection	Third-party debt collectors, debt buyers
Credit reporting...	Equifax, Experian, TransUnion disputes; FCRA issues
Checking or savings account	Bank accounts, overdraft, wire fraud
Money transfer, virtual currency...	Wire transfers, Zelle, Venmo, crypto
Payday loan, title loan...	Short-term high-interest loans, personal loans
Prepaid card	Payroll cards, government benefit cards

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Example Queries

Q: What are the most common issues Equifax customers complain about?

Tool: get_company_stats
company: Equifax

Q: Which mortgage companies have the most complaints in Florida?

Tool: get_product_trends
product: Mortgage, state: FL

Q: Who are the top 10 most-complained-about debt collectors in 2024?

Tool: top_complained_companies
product: Debt collection, year: 2024, limit: 10

Q: Find recent complaints about Navient student loan servicing.

Tool: search_complaints
company: Navient, product: Student loan, limit: 25

Q: What are California consumers complaining about at Bank of America?

Tool: search_complaints
company: Bank of America, state: CA, limit: 50

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Use Cases

Consumer advocates: Identify companies with high rates of complaints and poor resolution outcomes. Track whether a company's complaint rate changes after regulatory action.

Compliance teams: Monitor complaint filings against your institution in real time. Benchmark your complaint resolution rate against industry peers.

Investigative journalists: Surface systemic patterns — which companies get the most "in progress" responses? Which issues generate the most consumer disputes?

Attorneys: Research a client's company before litigation. Find patterns of complaint behavior that indicate systematic violations of FCRA, TILA, FDCPA, or RESPA.

Regulators: Track emerging issues in financial products. Identify geographic clusters of complaints that may indicate local predatory behavior.

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Company Response Types

The CFPB tracks how companies respond to each complaint:

Response	Meaning
Closed with monetary relief	Company provided cash, credit, or waived fees
Closed with non-monetary relief	Company took corrective action but no money
Closed with explanation	Company provided explanation only
Closed without relief	Company took no action
In progress	Company still working on resolution
Untimely response	Company missed the 15-day response window

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API Details

• Data source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database — https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/consumer-complaints/
• API endpoint: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/consumer-complaints/search/api/v1/
• Auth: None required
• Rate limits: None officially documented
• Coverage: 5M+ complaints, 2011–present, updated daily

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MCP Server Mode

Set serveMcp: true to start the MCP server. Configure your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cfpb": {
      "url": "http://<apify-run-hostname>:4321"
    }
  }
}

Endpoints:

• GET /mcp/tools — returns all 4 tool schemas
• POST /mcp/call — invoke a tool with {"name": "...", "arguments": {...}}
• GET /health — liveness check

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Error Handling

All tool functions catch exceptions and return structured error records:

[{"_meta": {"error": "...", "fallback_tried": true}}]

Empty queries return structured meta information about why no results were returned, including the total database size for context.

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License

CFPB complaint data is in the public domain (US government work). Actor code is MIT-licensed.