ALEXANDRIA, Va.—NCUA’s newConsumer Assistance Center online portal is now open to credit unions.
The portal allows credit unions to resolve consumer complaints more efficiently, the agency said.
The portal is located at MyCreditUnion.gov, and CUs can use it to receive correspondence from the Consumer Assistance Center about complaints concerning them, to send responses and complaint information, and to check the status of complaints concerning their institutions that were filed with the Consumer Assistance Center since Aug. 24, 2015. Information contained within the portal is not accessible by the public, NCUA said.
To help credit unions with questions about the Consumer Assistance Center portal, NCUA has created a series of frequently asked questions available on the agency’s website.
Using the portal is voluntary; however, registration is required, NCUA explained. Credit unions that want to use the portal must request access by e-mailing the Consumer Assistance Center at consumeraffairs@ncua.gov.
The e-mail requesting access must be sent by the credit union’s chief executive officer—or its senior manager, if the credit union does not employ a chief executive officer—and must include the chief executive officer’s name, work email address and work telephone number, NCUA explained.
NCUA said the registration verification process will take between 10 and 15 business days to complete. Once the verification process is complete, credit unions that have sent registration requests will receive confirmation from the Consumer Assistance Center, at which point they will be granted portal access.
The Consumer Assistance Center has implemented new complaint resolution procedures that improve and streamline how the agency handles consumer complaints involving federal consumer financial protection laws and regulations, the agency said. NCUA informed federally insured credit unions about these improvements in a Letter to Credit Unions in June.
Under the new complaint handling procedures, a complaint filed with the Consumer Assistance Center involving a federal consumer financial protection matter will be sent to the credit union, which will have 60 days to resolve the problem directly with the consumer and inform the agency of the outcome, NCUA stated. If the complaint remains unresolved, the Consumer Assistance Center may begin its own investigation to determine compliance with federal consumer financial protection laws and regulations.