The pandemic drove more customers to file complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2020, though Connecticut saw a smaller increase in complaints compared to the national rate.

Customer complaints increased nationally by almost 54 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The CFPB in its 2020 Consumer Response Annual Report released this week said the increased volume of complaints reflected financial realities related to the pandemic and the help consumers needed to navigate the new environment.

“The pandemic has been among the most disruptive long-term events we will see in our lifetimes,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio said in a statement announcing the report. “Not surprisingly, the shockwaves it sent across the planet were felt deeply in the consumer financial marketplace.”

The CFPB received approximately 542,300 consumer complaints in 2020. About 84 percent of those complaints had been sent to the companies for review as of Feb. 1, 2021, while 9 percent were sent to other regulatory agencies.

Connecticut saw a smaller year-over-year increase in the number of complaints in 2020, increasing by 19.4 percent. Connecticut residents submitted 4,115 complaints to the CFPB in 2020, representing 115 complaints per 100,000 in population.

Consumers in Florida had the highest per capita rate for submitting complaints, with 309 complaints per 100,000 in population, while Massachusetts had the highest per capita rate in New England, with 140 complaints per 100,000 in population.

Most of the complaints both nationally and in Connecticut involved credit and consumer reporting or debt collection, representing 59 percent and 15 percent, respectively, of complaints nationwide and 44.1 percent and 13.6 percent of Connecticut complaints.

The state had 438 mortgage complaints, up 18.4 percent from 2019. Nationwide, most of the 29,400 mortgage complaints involved consumers having problems during the payment process (47 percent), struggling to make payments (21 percent) or applying for a mortgage, including refinances (17 percent). Companies closed 88 percent of the mortgage complaints by providing an explanation, while 4 percent of consumers received monetary relief.

Complaints related to checking or savings accounts were nearly the same in Connecticut in 2020 and 2019, up 1.5 percent. Residents made 439 complaints to the CFPB related to checking and savings accounts in 2020.

Nationally, the CFPB received approximately 30,000 checking or savings account complaints in 2020, with 79 percent of the complaints involving checking accounts. The most common complaint, 63 percent, was about managing the account, including problems with depositing and withdrawing funds and using ATM cards. The CFPB said it saw a 12 percent increase in consumers complaining about managing their accounts compared to the previous two years.

Other problems involved issues related to economic impact payments, including consumers who had an overdrawn account; fraudulent activity; and online banking. In response to online banking issues, financial institutions typically responded to consumers by directing them to the terms and conditions, deposit agreements and account disclosures, the CFPB said.

The CFPB said 76 percent of all checking and savings complaints nationally were closed with the financial institution providing an explanation, while 16 percent involved monetary relief to the consumer.

“Consumer complaints provide the CFPB with an important real-time window into where consumers encounter problems in the marketplace,” Uejio said in the statement. “The CFPB expects companies to respond to these concerns and that consumers receive responses from companies that address the issues consumers raise in their complaints.”