CFPB Consumer Complaint Database Crawler

Crawl consumer financial complaint records from the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) database. Extract complaint details, company responses, consumer narratives, issue categories, and geographic data from 14M+ complaints filed since 2011. Filter by company, product, state, date range, and narrative availability.

What does the CFPB Complaint Crawler do?

The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database Crawler queries the official CFPB Consumer Complaint Database API to extract structured complaint records. The database contains over 14 million consumer complaints about financial products and services, including credit reporting, debt collection, mortgages, credit cards, and bank accounts. Each record includes the complaint details, the company involved, the company's response, geographic data, and -- when the consumer has opted in -- the full narrative text describing what happened.

CFPB Complaint Crawler Features

• Accesses 14M+ complaint records from the official CFPB consumer complaint database (2011 to present)
• Extracts 18 structured fields per complaint including company response, issue category, consumer narrative, dates, and geographic data
• Filters by company name -- exact match against CFPB's company index (e.g., "EQUIFAX, INC.", "BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION")
• Filters by financial product -- Credit Reporting, Debt Collection, Mortgage, Credit Card, Checking/Savings, Student Loan, and more
• Filters by state -- US state code filtering (e.g., CA, NY, TX)
• Filters by date range -- specify "received after" and "received before" dates
• Filters for narrative availability -- return only complaints where the consumer provided a written narrative
• Full text search -- search across complaint narratives and fields (e.g., "identity theft", "overdraft fee")
• Cursor-based pagination -- uses search_after cursors to reliably paginate through any number of results (standard offset pagination is broken in the CFPB API)
• No proxy required -- CFPB is a public government API with no authentication or rate limits

CFPB Complaint Crawler Output Fields

Field	Type	Description
complaint_id	string	Unique complaint ID
date_received	string	Date complaint was received (YYYY-MM-DD)
product	string	Financial product category (Credit reporting, Mortgage, etc.)
sub_product	string	Financial sub-product
issue	string	Primary complaint issue
sub_issue	string	Complaint sub-issue
company	string	Company name
company_response	string	Company's response (Closed with explanation, Closed with monetary relief, etc.)
state	string	Consumer's US state code
zip_code	string	First 3 digits of consumer's ZIP code
complaint_what_happened	string	Consumer narrative text (when consent provided)
submitted_via	string	Submission channel (Web, Referral, Phone, etc.)
date_sent_to_company	string	Date complaint was forwarded to company (YYYY-MM-DD)
timely	string	Whether company responded timely (Yes/No)
consumer_disputed	string	Whether consumer disputed the response
company_public_response	string	Company's public-facing response
tags	string	Consumer tags (Older American, Servicemember)
has_narrative	boolean	Whether complaint includes consumer narrative text

Who Uses CFPB Complaint Data?

• Compliance teams: Monitor complaint volume and resolution patterns for specific financial institutions to identify regulatory risk
• Legal researchers: Analyze complaint narratives and company responses for litigation support, class action research, and regulatory filings
• Financial analysts: Track complaint trends by product category, company, or geography to assess reputational risk and consumer sentiment
• Journalists and watchdog organizations: Investigate patterns of consumer harm at specific companies or across product categories
• Fintech companies: Benchmark customer complaint rates against competitors and identify underserved consumer segments
• Academic researchers: Study consumer financial behavior, dispute resolution outcomes, and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight

How to Use the CFPB Complaint Crawler

Input Parameters

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
searchTerm	No	(none)	Full text search across narratives and fields (e.g., "identity theft")
company	No	All	Exact company name (e.g., "EQUIFAX, INC.")
product	No	All	Product category: Credit Reporting, Debt Collection, Mortgage, Credit Card, etc.
state	No	All	US state code (e.g., CA, NY, TX)
dateFrom	No	(none)	Return complaints received on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	No	(none)	Return complaints received on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
hasNarrative	No	false	If true, only return complaints with consumer narrative text
maxItems	No	100	Maximum complaint records to return. Set to 0 for unlimited

Example Configurations

Get recent Equifax complaints with narratives:

{
    "company": "EQUIFAX, INC.",
    "hasNarrative": true,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Search for identity theft complaints in California:

{
    "searchTerm": "identity theft",
    "state": "CA",
    "maxItems": 100
}

Get all mortgage complaints from 2025:

{
    "product": "Mortgage",
    "dateFrom": "2025-01-01",
    "dateTo": "2025-12-31",
    "maxItems": 100
}

Sample Output

{
    "complaint_id": "20961218",
    "date_received": "2026-04-04",
    "product": "Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports",
    "sub_product": "Credit reporting",
    "issue": "Incorrect information on your report",
    "sub_issue": "Account information incorrect",
    "company": "EQUIFAX, INC.",
    "company_response": "Closed with explanation",
    "state": "FL",
    "zip_code": "330",
    "complaint_what_happened": "I disputed an incorrect balance on my credit report...",
    "submitted_via": "Web",
    "date_sent_to_company": "2026-04-04",
    "timely": "Yes",
    "consumer_disputed": "",
    "company_public_response": "",
    "tags": "",
    "has_narrative": true
}

CFPB Consumer Complaint Data FAQ

How do I get consumer complaint data from the CFPB? Use the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database Crawler to query the official CFPB API. Set your filters (company, product, state, date range) and the crawler returns structured JSON records. For complaints with consumer narrative text, enable the "With Consumer Narrative Only" filter.

How many complaints are in the CFPB database? The CFPB database contains over 14 million consumer complaints filed since 2011, growing by approximately 7,000-10,000 new complaints per day. About 26% of complaints (~3.76 million) include the consumer's written narrative.

What financial products are covered? The database covers Credit Reporting, Debt Collection, Credit Cards, Mortgages, Checking/Savings Accounts, Student Loans, Vehicle Loans, Money Transfers, Payday Loans, and Prepaid Cards.

Does this crawler require proxies or authentication? No. The CFPB complaint API is a public government service. No authentication, API keys, or proxies are required.

How long does a typical run take? The crawler processes approximately 1,000 records per minute. A run with maxItems set to 100 completes in under 30 seconds. Larger extractions scale linearly.

How is pagination handled? The crawler uses cursor-based pagination (search_after) instead of offset pagination. The CFPB API's offset parameter is non-functional, so the crawler constructs cursors from sort values on each page to reliably paginate through any number of results.

Are company names case-sensitive? Yes. Company names must match the CFPB's index exactly, including capitalization and punctuation. For example, use "EQUIFAX, INC." not "Equifax" or "equifax inc".

Need a Custom Feature?

If you need additional filters, custom data transformations, or integration with your compliance pipeline, file an issue or get in touch.