The ombudsman’s midyear report also includes recommendations to the CFPB on resolving process issues between staff, consumers and trade groups.
8/25/2021 9:00
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Ombudsman Wendy Kamenshine issued the office’s 2021 Midyear Update this week with news that the bureau’s post-examination survey of supervised entities program is in the final development stages.
The survey was first announced in the ombudsman’s 2020 annual report. The office conducted a beta test of a post-examination survey after that announcement and will provide an update on the next steps of the survey implementation during outreach engagements in 2021.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ombudsman’s office adapted its outreach to all virtual engagements. In July, it hosted a virtual ombudsman forum with organizations assisting consumers in the Northeast region of the U.S. The forum included one-hour process discussions on topics such as CFPB enforcement actions and redress, how consumers learn about outcomes and the consumer complaint process.
The role of the ombusdman’s office is to provide independent, impartial and confidential resources for consumers, banks and nonbanks in resolving issues with the bureau. In that role, it also makes recommendations to the bureau.
The ombudsman’s office will release its complete annual report toward the end of the year with more details on these topics as well as summaries of its forum and interactive meetings.
In the first six months of this year, the ombudsman’s office received 844 individual inquiries from individuals, companies, consumer and trade groups, and others. So far this year, people contacted the office from 42 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and from other countries, according to the report.