CFPB Consumer Complaints Scraper

Scrape consumer financial complaints from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) public database. Filter by product type, company, state, company response, submission channel, and date range.

Features

• Search the full CFPB complaint database (over 4 million records)
• Filter by product, company, state, response type, and submission method
• Date range filtering for targeted research
• Consumer complaint narratives when publicly available
• Automatic pagination — collect up to 10,000 records per run
• No authentication required — uses CFPB's public API

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	Select	Always searchComplaints
searchTerm	Text	Free-text search (e.g. credit card fraud, unauthorized charges)
product	Select	Financial product type (Credit card, Mortgage, Student loan, etc.)
state	Select	U.S. state or territory (2-letter code)
companyResponse	Select	How the company responded to the complaint
submittedVia	Select	Submission channel (Web, Phone, Referral, etc.)
dateReceivedMin	Text	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
dateReceivedMax	Text	End date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
company	Text	Company name (e.g. Chase, Equifax, Bank of America)
maxItems	Integer	Maximum records to return (1–10000, default 100)

Example Input

{
  "mode": "searchComplaints",
  "searchTerm": "unauthorized charges",
  "product": "Credit card",
  "state": "CA",
  "dateReceivedMin": "2023-01-01",
  "dateReceivedMax": "2023-12-31",
  "maxItems": 500
}

Output

Each record contains:

Field	Type	Description
complaintId	String	Unique CFPB complaint ID
dateReceived	String	Date complaint was received
product	String	Financial product type
subProduct	String	Sub-product classification
issue	String	Primary issue category
subIssue	String	Sub-issue detail
consumerComplaintNarrative	String	Consumer's account of the complaint (if consented)
companyPublicResponse	String	Company's public response statement
company	String	Company name
state	String	Consumer's state
zipCode	String	Consumer's ZIP code (partial)
tags	Array	Tags (e.g. Servicemember, Older American)
consumerConsentProvided	String	Whether consumer consented to share narrative
submittedVia	String	How the complaint was submitted
dateSentToCompany	String	When complaint was forwarded to company
timely	Boolean	Whether company responded timely
consumerDisputed	String	Whether consumer disputed the response
companyResponse	String	Company's response to the consumer
sourceUrl	String	Direct link to the complaint on CFPB website
scrapedAt	String	ISO timestamp of when data was scraped
recordType	String	Always "complaint"

Example Output

{
  "complaintId": "7654321",
  "dateReceived": "2023-06-15",
  "product": "Credit card",
  "subProduct": "General-purpose credit card or charge card",
  "issue": "Problem with a purchase shown on your statement",
  "subIssue": "Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement",
  "company": "JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.",
  "state": "CA",
  "submittedVia": "Web",
  "timely": true,
  "companyResponse": "Closed with explanation",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/consumer-complaints/search/?search_term=&size=25#7654321",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-01-28T10:30:00+00:00",
  "recordType": "complaint"
}

FAQ

Do I need an API key? No. The CFPB provides a completely public API that requires no authentication.

How many complaints are in the database? The CFPB database contains over 4 million consumer complaints dating back to 2011.

Can I get complaint narratives? Yes, when consumers consent to sharing their narrative, it appears in the consumerComplaintNarrative field.

What does timely mean? It indicates whether the company responded to the complaint within the CFPB's required timeframe.

How do I filter by company? Use the company field with the company name as it appears in the CFPB database (e.g. EQUIFAX, INC., JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.).

What date format should I use? Use YYYY-MM-DD format for dateReceivedMin and dateReceivedMax (e.g. 2023-01-01).

Is this data official? Yes, all data comes directly from the CFPB's official public database at consumerfinance.gov.