CFPB · Single-product concentration
Merchants' Credit Guide Company
722 CFPB complaints · 84.9% in "Debt collection" · top issue Attempts to collect debt not owed.
Merchants' Credit Guide Company: 84.9% of 722 CFPB complaints sit in "Debt collection". Timely 99.7% · relief 26.2%. Allegations, not findings.
- Single-product concentration
- +160% filings 2013 to 2026
CFPB relief outcome brief
CCDB company merchants-credit-guide-company
26.2% relief · 99.7% timely · 722 filings · Debt collection
Same-product relief peers
Nearest relief peer: Credit Bureau Systems, Inc., Paducah, KY Branch (26.6% relief)
Merchants' Credit Guide Company closes 26.2% with relief, above the 1.3% industry median among companies with ≥10 complaints. How CFPB response codes work →
Most of Merchants' Credit Guide Company's 722 filings include narrative text
46% carry a written consumer narrative, this ledger is unusually text-rich for a CFPB company page. Counts still add to the company's total filings; narrative presence is not a severity finding.
CFPB benchmark: response within 15 calendar days of filing.
Share closed with monetary or non-monetary relief.
Merchants' Credit Guide Company complaint mix by product
- Debt collection 613 84.9% – 27% relief
- Credit reporting, 84 11.6% – 25% relief
- Credit reporting 25 3.5% – 12% relief
How Merchants' Credit Guide Company's 722 complaints split across CFPB product categories. Resolution rate badge = % closed with monetary or non-monetary relief.
Complaints by Product
| Product | Complaints |
|---|---|
| Debt collection | 613 |
| Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports | 84 |
| Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports | 25 |
Concentrated filing states for Merchants' Credit Guide Company
Top states by attributed CFPB complaint volume for this company
- Leading state
- IL
- 63.2% of this company's filings
Merchants' Credit Guide Company rising annual filings
Annual filing volume from the CFPB public database
- 2026
- 13
- +160% vs 2013
Top States
| State | Complaints |
|---|---|
| IL | 456 |
| TX | 76 |
| OH | 23 |
| MI | 18 |
| FL | 17 |
| IN | 15 |
| CA | 14 |
| AZ | 11 |
| KY | 11 |
| GA | 8 |
| NC | 7 |
| TN | 6 |
| NJ | 6 |
| AL | 5 |
| KS | 4 |
| CO | 4 |
| WA | 4 |
| WI | 3 |
| VA | 3 |
| AR | 3 |
Top Issues
| Issue | Complaints |
|---|---|
| Attempts to collect debt not owed | 255 |
| Written notification about debt | 186 |
| Incorrect information on your report | 50 |
| False statements or representation | 44 |
| Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem | 35 |
| Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed | 34 |
| Communication tactics | 33 |
| Took or threatened to take negative or legal action | 32 |
| Improper use of your report | 19 |
| Disclosure verification of debt | 19 |
| Improper contact or sharing of info | 5 |
| Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem | 4 |
| Electronic communications | 3 |
| Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly | 2 |
| Fraud or scam | 1 |
Yearly Trend
| Year | Complaints | Timely |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 | 100% |
| 2014 | 4 | 100% |
| 2015 | 13 | 92.3% |
| 2016 | 27 | 100% |
| 2017 | 58 | 100% |
| 2018 | 78 | 100% |
| 2019 | 54 | 98.1% |
| 2020 | 80 | 100% |
| 2021 | 126 | 100% |
| 2022 | 97 | 100% |
| 2023 | 73 | 100% |
| 2024 | 66 | 100% |
| 2025 | 28 | 100% |
| 2026 | 13 | 100% |
Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database
Merchants' Credit Guide Company filings cluster in one product
Merchants' Credit Guide Company's 722 logged complaints stay concentrated: only 36 states show a filing. 46% of filings carry a written consumer narrative, an unusually well-documented record. Records run from 2013 through 2026-06-08.
Merchants' Credit Guide Company answers 99.7% of complaints inside the CFPB's tracked window and closes 73.8% with a written explanation. 26.2% end in monetary or non-monetary relief for the consumer. Consumers disputed just 0% of responses after the company replied. "Debt collection" draws the most filings, most often for "Attempts to collect debt not owed."
A complaint is a consumer-reported allegation, not proven wrongdoing. See the disclaimer below for how volume relates to company size, and cross-check against the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database directly before drawing conclusions about Merchants' Credit Guide Company.
Compare beyond geography
Nationwide peers by volume & timely response
Two PlainComplaint-derived comparison paths for Merchants' Credit Guide Company: nearest filing volume and nearest CFPB timely-response rate among companies with at least 100 logged complaints. State breakdowns above stay geographic; these neighborhoods vary by metric.
Similar filing volume
Nearest companies by total CFPB complaints. This record: 722.
Similar timely response rate
Nearest companies by CFPB 15-day timely-response %. This record: 99.7%.
Disclaimer: This data is from CFPB public records. PlainComplaint does not provide financial advice. A complaint does not indicate that a company has violated any law or regulation. Complaint volumes are influenced by company size, customer base, and market presence. Use this data as one of many inputs when evaluating a company.
Data sourced from official public datasets for Merchants' Credit Guide Company (99.7% timely; 26.2% relief). methodology.
Retrieved and formatted by PlainComplaint · vintage June 2026 · Single-product concentration