The CFPB recently published the latest complaint snapshot report which detailed complaint numbers, trends, and top issues reported by servicemembers, veterans, and their families across the country. The report provides complaint information nationwide and on a state-by-state basis for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It covers complaints submitted throughout 2018 and notes that the Bureau handled 12% more servicemember complaints in 2018 than in 2017.

The report shows the top five products that were the subject of the most complaints submitted by servicemembers and the top issue reported by servicemembers for each of the top five products. For example, as the nationwide chart excerpted below shows, the top “product” of concern for servicemembers’ complaints was credit reports and the top related issue was incorrect information. As we described in a previous blog about the annual report recently released by the Bureau’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, credit reporting complaints are of special concern for the Bureau because servicemembers’ credit histories are now continuously monitored by the Department of Defense for security clearance purposes. The report also provides for each state a percentage breakdown of servicemember complaints by branch of military service and a state map showing the volume of complaints submitted by geocoded zip codes.

The report also shows that, unlike at least one previous servicemember complaint report which found significant variations between products of concern for servicemembers and non-servicemembers, in 2018, servicemember complaints nationwide proportionally tracked the complaints by product submitted by non-servicemembers: