Filing a complaint
Company response types explained
Each complaint against a financial company usually ends with a short label for how the company responded. "Closed with monetary relief" means you got money back. "Closed with non-monetary relief" means something else was fixed. "Closed with explanation" means the company explained its position, often without changing anything. "In progress" means it is still working on it, and "untimely response" means it missed the deadline. A "timely" response is one given within 15 days.
Each response type in plain English
| Label | What it means | Was the problem fixed? |
|---|---|---|
| Closed with monetary relief | The company gave the consumer money or its equivalent, such as a refunded fee, a reversed charge, a credit to the account or a corrected amount owed. | Usually, at least partly. The amount may be less than what was asked for. |
| Closed with non-monetary relief | The company did something other than paying, such as correcting a credit report, stopping collection, changing account terms, fixing a payment record or giving requested documents. | Often, for the part it addressed. |
| Closed with explanation | The company responded with an explanation of what happened or why it acted as it did, without giving relief. | Not necessarily. Often nothing changed. |
| Closed without relief | Used in some older records. The company closed the complaint without giving any relief. | No. |
| Closed | Used in some older records. Closed without saying what kind of response was given. | Unknown. |
| In progress | The company has said it needs more time to give a final response. | Not yet known. |
| Untimely response | The company did not respond within the expected time. | Unknown, and a warning sign if it happens often. |
Wording can differ a little from one source to another, but these are the categories you will see most often.
What "timely response" means
A response is counted as timely when the company answers within 15 days of receiving the complaint. That first answer can be a final response or a note that the company is still working on it. A company that says it needs more time is generally expected to give its final answer within 60 days.
Timeliness tells you whether a company takes complaints seriously enough to answer on time. It does not tell you whether the answer was any good. A company can be timely on nearly every complaint and still rarely fix anything.
Why "closed with explanation" does not mean fixed
This is the label people misread most. For many companies it is the most common outcome, and it covers a very wide range of situations:
- the company found it made no mistake and showed why, which can be fair
- the company explained its policy, even though the policy caused the problem
- the company gave a form letter that did not deal with the actual complaint
- the company had already fixed the problem before the complaint arrived, so there was nothing new to give
- the complaint was really a question, and the company answered it
So "closed with explanation" is not automatically bad, and it is not automatically good. For one complaint, the only way to know is to read the response. Across thousands of complaints, though, the share that ended with real relief tells you a lot.
How to read a company's complaint record
A single complaint tells you about one person's bad day. A company's record over time tells you how it treats people when things go wrong. When you look at a company on Complaint History, check these things.
1. Relief rate
This is the share of complaints that ended with monetary or non-monetary relief. A higher relief rate usually means the company is more willing to fix problems once they are raised. A low rate is not proof of bad behavior, because some companies get many complaints that were never their fault, but it is worth comparing.
2. Timeliness
Look at the share of complaints answered on time. Most large companies answer nearly all complaints on time, so a noticeably lower rate stands out. Repeated untimely responses suggest the company is overwhelmed or does not prioritize complaints.
3. Trend
Are complaints rising or falling? A sudden jump can follow a system outage, a merger, a change of loan servicer, a new fee policy or a wave of fraud. A steady rise over many months says more than a one-month spike. The trends page shows how complaints are moving across companies and products.
4. What people complain about
The issues matter more than the count. Complaints about confusing statements are different from complaints about money disappearing or about being charged for debts people say they do not owe. Browse complaints by issue to see which problems come up most.
5. Size and peers
Big companies get more complaints simply because they have more customers. A national bank with tens of millions of accounts will always have more complaints than a small credit union. Compare a company with others of a similar type and size, in the same product category, rather than looking at the raw number alone. You can put companies side by side on the compare page or see how they stack up in the rankings.
Our score, briefly
To make records easier to compare, Complaint History shows a score for each company that combines factors such as relief, timeliness and trend. It is a quick summary, not a verdict. The score explanation sets out what goes into it and its limits. Always read the details behind the score before making a big decision.
What a complaint record cannot tell you
Complaint records are useful, but they have limits worth knowing:
- Not every problem becomes a complaint. Most unhappy customers never file one, and some groups file more than others.
- Complaints are not verified findings. A complaint is one person's account. It is not proof that the company broke a law.
- Relief can be small. "Monetary relief" might be a full refund or a few dollars.
- Labels are chosen by the company. The company picks how to describe its own response.
- Records lag. Recent complaints may still be in progress.
Use complaint records alongside other checks, such as licensing and reviews from real customers. Our guide on how to check if a company is legit walks through the rest.
What to do with your own response
If you filed a complaint and got an answer you do not accept:
- Read the response twice. Check whether it actually addresses what you complained about.
- Give feedback. Say plainly what is still wrong.
- Escalate. Go to your state attorney general or regulator, or use a formal dispute process. See what happens after you file a complaint.
Questions and answers
Is "closed with explanation" good or bad?
It can be either. It means the company explained its position without giving relief. Sometimes that is fair because there was no mistake. Often it means nothing changed for the consumer. Look at the company's overall relief rate for the bigger picture.
What is the difference between monetary and non-monetary relief?
Monetary relief means the consumer got money or its equivalent, such as a refund or reversed charge. Non-monetary relief means the company fixed something else, such as a credit report error, account terms or collection activity.
What does untimely response mean?
It means the company did not respond within the expected time, which is generally 15 days. One untimely response is not unusual, but a pattern of them is a warning sign.
Does a high number of complaints mean a company is bad?
Not on its own. Large companies get more complaints because they have more customers. Compare relief rate, timeliness, trend and issues with similar companies before drawing conclusions.
Who decides the response label?
The company chooses how to describe its response when it closes the complaint. That is one reason to read the details and look at patterns rather than trusting a single label.
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