Credit reporting complaints at the CFPB jumped from roughly 150,000 in 2019 to more than five million in 2025, a more than 3,700% surge the Bureau now says has broken the system. On June 24, 2026, the CFPB announced its biggest complaint process overhaul since the portal launched in 2011.
The changes are surgical. The Bureau is adding two-factor authentication, directing consumers to exhaust FCRA dispute procedures with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion before filing with the portal (and considering a new administrative category to enforce that path), and redefining its “backlog” so only complaints older than 30 days count as delayed. A revised Company Portal Manual standardizes how firms categorize closed complaints, particularly the vague “non-monetary relief” bucket that companies have been using inconsistently.
The Bureau’s framing is abuse: social media influencers, credit repair clinics, and AI-driven dispute tools have been gaming the portal. The National Consumer Law Center has maintained its objections, arguing the volume reflects real problems in the credit reporting system, not manipulation, and that adding friction will deter consumers with legitimate grievances.
Here’s the read across: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion closed more than 2.1 million complaints with non-monetary relief in 2025, up from 1.3 million the prior year. The new FCRA exhaustion requirement funnels more disputes back to the bureaus themselves, which means they, not the CFPB, become the first line of resolution. That’s a structural shift worth watching if you’re in credit repair or consumer advocacy.
The credit repair industry’s complaint-as-strategy playbook doesn’t survive if the portal requires identity verification the clinics can’t easily fake.
Marcus Webb