Republicans want to muzzle database of consumer complaints

April 24, 2017 at 3:14 a.m. | Updated April 24, 2017 at 3:15 a.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 201 file photo, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray listens to a speaker during a a hearing in Denver. Americans lodged nearly 300,000 complaints last year about their dealings with banks, credit card issuers and other financial services companies, most compiled and made readily available for anyone to see as part of a database administered by the federal government. But that window may soon be closing. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 7, 201 file photo, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray listens to a speaker during a a hearing in Denver. Americans lodged nearly 300,000 complaints last year about their dealings with banks, credit card issuers and other financial services companies, most compiled and made readily available for anyone to see as part of a database administered by the federal government. But that window may soon be closing. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican lawmakers want to make private a database of consumer complaints against banks, credit card issuers and other financial services companies.

Industry groups criticize the database as potentially misleading and incomplete. They want to change the law allowing the complaints to be published.

The database is a product of the Obama-era law known as Dodd-Frank, long a target of Republican and industry ire.

Last year consumers filed nearly 300,000 complaints against financial services companies.

The information published includes the date, the consumer's ZIP code and the company involved. It includes how the company responded, whether it did so in a timely way and whether the consumer disputed the company's response.

A Georgia Republican, congressman Barry Loudermilk, asks if the purpose of the database is to name and shame companies.

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