Credit card complaints

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) - The federal government has just launched a new online credit card complaint database.

The consumer financial protection bureau website will publicly post how a lender responded to certain complaints. It will also indicate whether the company resolved the complaint in a timely manner.

"If a consumer files a complaint, the credit card company has 15 days to acknowledge or respond and then 60 days to actually resolve this dispute", said Milagros Johnson of the Springfield Mayor's Office of Consumer Information.

Most of the complaints with the credit cards have to deal with consumers having a hard time fighting any inaccuracies on their billing statements.

"I think that a lot of times companies don't really tell you everything, so it's good to have the consumers be able to kind of band together," Sarah Dickstein of Longmeadow told 22News.

But banking groups aren't so keen on all this sharing of information. They believe some of these complaints could be hard to separate from legitimate ones. But the bureau says no complaint will be posted online until the alleged offender confirms it did business with the consumer.

Many credit card holders told 22News they believe this new website is a step in the right direction.

"I think the names should be released because then the consumers can kind of select which ones are good and which ones aren't so good", said Mark Gelinas of Longmeadow.

Complaints about mortgages and checking accounts will also be added later to the site, which will only help feed consumers with better knowledge before they make their next financial decision.

If you have a complaint you'd like to file, contact the Massachusetts' Attorney General's office or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau .