Guide

The CFPB complaint: the free lever with a mandatory answer

File at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or by phone. A complaint is not a lawsuit and does not pause any deadline — your validation window and your answer deadline keep running. File it alongside your written dispute, never instead of it.

What to write: dates, not adjectives. 'On March 3, 5 and 6, the collector called 9 times about account ending 4417' beats three paragraphs about harassment. Attach your call log and a copy of any letter you sent — the same record the kit's violation log formats for you.

What happens: the CFPB forwards the complaint to the company, which generally must respond within about 15 days. Responses are not always remedies — but companies answer the CFPB with a seriousness they rarely show a phone call, and the complaint becomes part of the public record regulators use when they bring enforcement cases (debt collection drew roughly 387,000 complaints in 2025, the second-largest category the CFPB tracks).

Also file with: your state attorney general's consumer-protection office, and — for original creditors — the issuer's own regulator channel via the CFPB as well. In states whose statutes cover original creditors (California, Texas, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida), the AG complaint carries statutory weight of its own.

Included in the $39 DebtDecoded Kit

  • The letter builder — answer a few questions and it writes your letters: the one that makes them prove the debt is yours, and the one that orders them to stop calling. Wording follows the federal rulebook (Regulation F). Ready to print and mail
  • The old-debt trap worksheet — checks your dates against your state's restart rule before you pay or sign anything, so one small payment can't quietly restart the clock on an old debt (the trap lawyers call 'revival')
  • The call log — counts their calls against the legal line: more than 7 calls in 7 days about one debt counts as harassment (12 CFR 1006.14(b)(2))
  • The 'what they can't take' pack — what a court judgment can and cannot take in your state, including the rule that shields two months of federal benefits sitting in your bank account (31 CFR Part 212)
  • The offer-math worksheet — what a 'deal' really costs once fees and the tax on the written-off part are counted (that tax shows up on Form 1099-C)
  • The complaint walkthrough and the honest directory — who to call instead when a free or better route fits you

One payment. Every stage of the road, and the deadline tables for all 50 states — every number with its law cited. No account, no subscription — and the free checker above stays free whether you buy or not.

Get the Kit — $39

DebtDecoded is education, not a law firm. If the checker points you to a free route — legal aid, a lawyer who fights debt collectors, a nonprofit counselor — take it. We would rather lose the sale than sell you the wrong tool.

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