CFPB finds military servicemembers harmed by credit reports & debt collectors

From the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs’ recent annual report: “Servicemembers told the CFPB about billing inaccuracies and that debt collectors used aggressive tactics to recover allegedly unpaid medical bills. Servicemembers also reported failures by credit reporting companies in helping to resolve inaccuracies and other credit reporting issues.”

U.S. PIRG has studied complaints in the CFPB’s public consumer complaint database for over ten years. Our 2017 report, “Protecting Those Who Serve,” found that:

Debt collection is the leading source of complaints by servicemembers and veterans to the CFPB.

• Through April 2017, 14,123 debt collection complaints accounted for 32 percent of all servicemember complaints, making it the leading category of servicemember and veteran complaints in the Consumer Complaint Database.
• Some complaints document a military-specific problem with debt collection: contact with commanding officers about the debt, which can undermine a servicemember’s military career.