Banking's Customer Complaint Box Overflows

What will be the topic of the next bank scandal? Who knows? That's the thing about bankers: They are constantly innovating when it comes to finding ways to create new scandals.

However, now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has shaken Wells Fargo to its core, those who enjoy being outraged by financial scandals -- not to mention operational-risk managers at the banks themselves1475588951641 -- may want to keep a close eye on this agency's comings and goings for clues as to what shoes may drop next.

Since it got up and running five years ago, one of the CFPB's roles has been to serve as a sort of complaint box for customers of the nation's banks and financial companies. And it's safe to say that box is now overflowing:

Of course, as with any complaint box, not every gripe is valid (which we feel compelled to point out, lest our own inboxes fill up with complaints from financial firms). There are so many coming in, it would be a Herculean task for the agency to validate and/or respond to every single one.

But the complaints may not be falling into the void. CFPB Director Richard Cordray has called the complaint database a “compass” that plays an important role in what the agency does, as The Wall Street Journal pointed out last week.