CoPIRG exposes Top 10 list of financial complaints from Coloradans in 2021 as Consumer Protection Week kicks off

Credit Reporting, Debt Collection top list of consumers’ pain points

CoPIRG Foundation

DENVER— In 2021, from across the country, a record number of people filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Public Consumer Complaint Database. Here in Colorado, we filed 4,729 complaints, with some categories of problems rising to the top (or sinking to the bottom, you might say). The Top 10 issues that Coloradans complained about were led by incorrect information on your credit report and credit reporting agencies failing to fix problems flagged by consumers.

”The COVID-19 pandemic was hard enough without having to deal with questionable financial situations, such as credit reports and debt collection,” said Danny Katz, CoPIRG executive director. “To paraphrase the Academy Award-winning film Network, Colorado consumers are mad as heck and they’re not going to take it any more. People are letting the CFPB know their grievances in unprecedented numbers, the agency is responding, and that should make all of our lives better.”

As part of today’s release, CoPIRG Foundation unveiled new guides that help Coloradans protect themselves including

• Finding mistakes on credit reports 
• Step-by-step guide to use credit freezes to prevent identity theft 
• Twenty-two ways to protect yourself against fraud, identity theft and headaches. 

Over the last 10 years, CoPIRG Foundation and its national partner, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, have released more than 20 detailed reports based on complaints in the CFPB complaint database.

Informing Coloradans about the most rampant problems facing consumers in our state is part of our work in recognition of National Consumer Protection Week 2022. All week, CoPIRG Foundation is providing consumer protection tips and tools to help Americans address some of the most common consumer issues that threaten our health, safety or financial security. 

New reports and guides that will be released this week include:

• Tuesday, March 8 – Failing the fix: repairability rankings for phones and laptops  
• Wednesday, March 9 – Dark patterns guide for how to protect your privacy on leading apps 
• Thursday, March 10 – The ‘buy now, pay later’ phenomenon and tips to avoid hidden debt traps
• Friday, March 11 – Counterfeit products and a new guide on how to avoid them online  
• Saturday, March 12 – Illegal surprise medical bills and new tip guide to help consumers know their new rights 

CoPIRG Foundation staff are available to the media all week to walk through our tips step-by-step.