The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday (Dec. 22) that it has released the latest iteration of its monthly consumer complaint exploration, listed as a snapshot. This time around, the consumer complaints illustrated center on money transfers.
The bureau noted that the consumer complaints are focused on the troubles seen when trying to send funds overseas safely, efficiently and absent of fraud.
The snapshot itself centers on a pinpointed location, this time in Georgia, with 770,100 complaints seen across what the CFPB said encompassed “all products” as of the beginning of this month and 5,100 complaints across money transfer operations.
Broadly speaking, the bureau said that the money transfer business is a large one, as people send tens of billions of dollars through these services and that tally includes both domestic and foreign remittances. The organization put in place, as of two years ago, rules regarding such money transfer issues as third-party fees and the ability to cancel transactions.
Yet, fraud persists, with 42 percent of complaints centering around the subject; still others decried customer service and delays in the transactions themselves. In fact, many consumers said that they were not fully aware of their rights, as defined by the companies that were handling the transactions.
Turning to the companies that garnered consumer ire, the CFPB said the most-oft cited included MoneyGram, PayPal, Western Union and JPMorgan Chase. Those four companies were the nexus of complaints, with 80 percent of complaints lodged between July and September of this year.
In a statement accompanying the snapshot, the bureau’s head, Richard Cordray, said: “People rely on the money transfer process to make payments and take care of family members that they cannot be with. Through rules on international money transfers and continued supervision of this important financial service, the bureau is working to make sure that consumers can easily send money without having to worry about delays or hidden fees.”