WASHINGTON, D.C. -

While President Obama is convening a meeting on Monday with financial regulators to receive an update on the progress in “implementing Wall Street reform,” both the American Financial Services Association and the Consumer Bankers Association offered updates on the revision to the company portal manual associated with consumer complaints sent to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Containing within that “Wall Street reform” touted by the White House, AFSA explained through its weekly NewsBriefs offering that the CFPB’s consumer response team routes complaints to companies through the portal where companies can view and respond to complaints. Recent changes to the consumer complaint portal process include:

• Updated the text that will display in the consumer complaint database for any “no public response” optional company public response submitted after March 2. The description displayed in the consumer complaint database will now be “company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response.” The original response simply stated, “company chooses not to provide a public response.”

• The CFPB expanded its definition of a “duplicate complaint,” defined by the bureau as a complaint submitted by or on behalf of the same consumer that does not describe or include any new issue, instance, or information. Previously, the CFPB defined duplicate complaints as a verbatim copy of a prior complaint. 

• The CFPB’s revised company portal manual now identifies “administrative response” options, used by the company when further review by the CFPB is needed. An example might be when a company cannot validate a commercial relationship with the consumer. Administrative responses are not published in the CFPB’s complaint database.

Over at the CBA, the association believes the revised definition of a “duplicate” complaint will help to give a more accurate overall complaint number.  Additionally, CBA insisted the re-categorization and additional “administrative response” options will better capture the institution’s commitment to their customer relationships. 

Furthermore, CBA president and chief executive officer Richard Hunt added that he thinks the updated disclosure for companies that do not publically respond to complaint narratives exhibit member banks’ commitment to their customer’s privacy.

“We are pleased the CFPB heard our requests to improve the portal.  Though the portal still needs improvement, the release of revisions to the manual today signals our member banks’ feedback is not falling on deaf ears,” Hunt said.

Perhaps many of the regulators both AFSA and the CBA often try to reach will be at the White House on Monday. Press Secretary Josh Earnest indicated during a briefing last Friday that  participants will discuss efforts “to continue to implement the strongest consumer financial protections in history that have afforded millions of hardworking Americans new protections from the kinds of abusive practices that predated the crisis.”

Earnest added the regulators will also update Obama on their work to make financial systems “safer and stronger.”

Obama’s primary spokesperson went on to say, “One of the key legacy achievements of this presidency will be the important reforms of Wall Street.  And those reforms have led to a financial system that is more stable and ensures that taxpayers are not on the hook for bailing out financial institutions that make risky bets.

“And I’ve said it so many times now over the last few years that it sort of sounds like a really easy thing, but the truth is, in implementing that law, administration regulators have had to fight tooth and nail with Wall Street institutions and their highly paid lobbyists to ensure that that law is effectively implemented,” Earnest added.