How to file a CFPB complaint about a bank account closure

When a complaint is worth filing

After about two weeks of written attempts with no substantive answer, or the moment the bank misses a written funds-release commitment. Filing before you have a paper trail wastes your strongest evidence.

The process

You file at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB routes the complaint to the company and, for banks, shares it with the prudential regulator. Companies generally respond within 15 days; some take up to 60 for a final response. You can then review the response and add feedback.

• Category: "Bank account/account closure" for deposit accounts; "Credit card" for card closures.
• Narrative: dates, facts, what you asked for in writing, what the bank answered. No anger — regulators act on sequences, not adjectives.
• Attach: the closure notice, your secure-message history, any adverse-action or hold notices, and every written date commitment.
• Relief: state exactly what resolves it — specific reason in writing, funds released by a firm date, rewards preserved.

Parallel channels

The bank's charter decides its prudential regulator: national banks (Chase, Citi, BofA, Capital One's bank entity) sit under the OCC — helpwithmybank.gov takes complaints directly. State non-member banks fall under the FDIC's consumer response center, credit unions under the NCUA (mycreditunion.gov). Your state attorney general's consumer-protection division is a free parallel filing that sometimes moves faster for withheld funds.

What complaints do and don't do

A CFPB complaint forces a tracked, written response from the bank — it does not force reinstatement, and it does not award damages. Its power is timing and record: banks must respond on the record while you are deciding your next step.