Bank Complaints: What to Know

Banking Complaints at the CFPB

Checking and savings account complaints cover unexpected fees, account closures, deposits, transfers, and online banking. Complaint totals can be compared within the same product category, but the CFPB dataset does not include each institution's customer base, so it cannot produce a complaint rate by customer.

Most Common Banking Issues

Based on CFPB complaint data, the most frequently reported banking issues include:

• Managing an account: Problems with deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or account features. This includes issues with mobile banking, online banking, and ATM access.
• Closing an account: Difficulty closing accounts, unexpected fees during closure, or the bank closing accounts without adequate notice. Some consumers report banks refusing to close accounts that have pending transactions or holds.
• Opening an account: Being denied an account without clear explanation, problems with identity verification, or unexpected requirements during the application process.
• Problem with a lender or servicer: Issues with overdraft protection, linked credit products, or how the bank handles loan payments through deposit accounts.
• Fees: Unexpected maintenance fees, overdraft charges, ATM fees, wire transfer fees, or fees that were not clearly disclosed when the account was opened.

How Banks Compare

PlainComplaint tracks complaint volumes, timely response rates, and relief percentages for every bank in the CFPB database. Some key patterns emerge from the data:

• Absolute complaint volume is not a customer-rate measure because this dataset has no customer-count denominator.
• Company profiles can show the issue labels and response categories recorded in the public dataset.
• Compare institutions within the same product category rather than treating complaint totals as a universal ranking.
• Use the source record as context for a question to ask the institution, not as a prediction of service quality or financial loss.

Before Opening a New Bank Account

If you are considering a new bank, PlainComplaint can help you research the company's complaint history. Look for:

• Complaint volume: Read it as a count of reported complaints, not as a rate by customer or account.
• Timely response rate: Check the reported rate alongside the number of complaints in the same product category.
• Relief rate: Read the recorded response category as context, not as a promise that another customer will receive the same result.
• Common issues: Check which issues are most frequently reported. If fee complaints dominate, pay extra attention to the fee schedule.

What to Do About a Banking Problem

1. Contact your bank first: Most issues can be resolved through the bank's customer service department.
2. Escalate if needed: Ask to speak with a supervisor or contact the bank's complaint department directly.
3. File a CFPB complaint: If the bank does not resolve your issue, file at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.
4. Contact your state banking regulator: Each state has a department that regulates banks chartered in that state.
5. Consider switching banks: If patterns of poor service emerge, research alternatives using PlainComplaint's rankings to compare.

Disclaimer

This guide is for informational purposes only. PlainComplaint does not provide financial advice or recommend specific banks. Complaint data is one factor to consider alongside interest rates, fees, branch access, digital features, and your personal banking needs.

Bank Complaint Categories: What the CFPB Tracks

The CFPB complaint database groups reports into product and issue categories. Those labels help readers compare the kinds of problems reported, but they do not establish the terms of an individual account or predict how a particular complaint will end.

Account Opening, Closing, and Management

The most common bank-complaint sub-category, covering disputes over account closures the consumer did not request, lengthy holds on deposits, and difficulty opening new accounts due to ChexSystems flags. The CFPB's 2022 enforcement action against a major regional bank for improper closures raised the visibility of this category materially.

Overdraft Fees and Insufficient-Funds Charges

Fee-related reports can be useful prompts to read an account's current disclosures carefully. The complaint database does not identify the fee schedule in force for an individual account or show whether a particular fee was valid.

Electronic Transfers and Fraud

Sub-category covering ACH disputes, wire-transfer reversals, mobile-app payment fraud (Zelle, Venmo, CashApp), and cryptocurrency on-ramp issues. Resolution outcomes here vary widely; the consumer's evidence quality and the speed of the initial bank notification often determine the outcome more than category dynamics.

Linked Debit-Card Disputes

Reg E disputes covering unauthorized debit-card transactions get treated procedurally differently from credit-card disputes (which fall under Reg Z and the Fair Credit Billing Act). The investigation timelines, provisional-credit rules, and final-resolution standards all differ and matter for how a consumer should frame the initial complaint.

How to Use the Complaint Data Responsibly

Use the live product and company pages to see which issues consumers report and how companies label their responses. Treat those measures as context, not a forecast of a fee, refund, or timeline for your own account. A direct dispute should be checked against the account agreement, the relevant statement, and the CFPB's official filing guidance.