Where to File a Consumer Complaint: AG, FTC, CFPB, or BBB?
Last reviewed: April 28, 2026
What this page covers
Most consumer disputes can be filed with at least three agencies, and the agencies do not do the same thing. This page lays out what each one actually does with a complaint, who has jurisdiction over which kinds of disputes, and how to pick the right one — or sensibly cross-file when more than one applies.
The four main destinations
Each of these agencies receives a different mix of complaints because each has different powers. Knowing what they actually do prevents the common mistake of picking based on name recognition rather than fit.
State Attorney General (consumer protection division)
Each state AG enforces that state's unfair and deceptive acts and practices ("UDAP") statute and a portfolio of more specific laws covering home improvement, debt collection, charitable solicitation, and others. They mediate individual disputes against in-state businesses and bring civil enforcement when patterns appear. Most states publish annual consumer complaint data on the AG website.
Federal Trade Commission
The FTC operates the largest consumer-fraud database in the country (Sentinel) and publishes consumer alerts. It does not handle most individual disputes directly; it aggregates complaints to support enforcement against companies whose conduct affects many consumers across state lines, and shares data with state AGs and law enforcement. File at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The CFPB has direct authority over consumer financial products: credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, debt collection, credit reporting, prepaid cards, payday lending, and similar services. Unlike the FTC, the CFPB does forward your complaint to the named company and require a response within a fixed window — usually 15 days, with a final reply within 60. File at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.
Better Business Bureau
The BBB is a private nonprofit, not a regulator. It runs a complaint mediation service and a rating system. Filing with the BBB can produce a quick response from a business that values its rating, but the BBB cannot subpoena records, fine a company, or enforce a settlement. Treat it as a parallel mediation channel, not as enforcement.
Quick comparison
| Feature | State AG | FTC | CFPB | BBB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | State enforcement | Federal enforcement | Federal enforcement | Private nonprofit |
| Mediates your case? | Often (case-by-case) | No (data-only) | Yes (forwarded to company) | Yes |
| Forces a company response? | Sometimes | No | Yes (usually 15-day window) | No (voluntary) |
| Investigation power | Subpoenas, civil suits | Civil suits, FTC orders | Subpoenas, civil suits | None |
| Best for | In-state businesses, contractor and home-improvement, charity, scam reporting | Cross-state and online scams, broad fraud reporting | Banking, credit, mortgage, debt collection, credit reports | Reputation pressure on local businesses |
| Public record? | Confidential, may be released by request | Confidential to consumer; aggregate published | Yes (Consumer Complaint Database) | Yes (visible on company profile) |
Decision criteria — pick by what the dispute is about
If it is about a financial product or service
Start with the CFPB. Banks, credit-card issuers, mortgage servicers, debt collectors, credit-reporting agencies, and student-loan servicers all respond to CFPB complaints under a fixed timeline. The mandatory response is the most consistent feature of any U.S. consumer complaint system. Cross-file with your state AG if the company is in your state or if a pattern is emerging locally.
If it is a dispute with a business operating in your state
Start with your state AG. State UDAP statutes and specialty laws (home improvement, auto sales, lemon law, charitable solicitation, telemarketing) are enforced at the state level. The AG's consumer-protection division can mediate, and a pattern of complaints triggers enforcement.
If it is a scam, especially one with online or out-of-state elements
File with the FTC, and add IC3 if it was online. Scammers usually operate across state lines. The FTC and FBI IC3 are the right places for pattern-detection. Add a state AG complaint if you can identify a specific business in a known state. See our scam library for category-specific reporting paths.
If you want a quick public response from a local business
The BBB plus the AG. The BBB notifies the business and posts the complaint on the business's BBB profile, which many businesses care about. The AG complaint adds enforcement leverage if the BBB process stalls.
If you want money back rather than enforcement
Start with the company itself, then your card issuer or bank. Federal billing-error rules give you a window to dispute charges with your card issuer. If that fails, small-claims court usually beats any agency for individual recovery — see small claims vs AG complaint.
Cross-filing — the right way to do it
For most non-trivial disputes, filing with more than one agency is appropriate, not redundant. The cleanest pattern looks like this:
- Send a written demand directly to the business and give them at least 14 days to respond.
- If they refuse or ignore you, file with the agency that has the most direct jurisdiction (CFPB for financial, AG for in-state, FTC/IC3 for scams).
- Cross-file with one parallel channel (e.g., AG plus CFPB, or AG plus BBB).
- In the body of each complaint, mention the other filings and any case numbers. This signals that you understand the process and helps regulators see the same conduct in multiple databases.
What you should not do is blast the same complaint to every conceivable agency. It does not help, and it can dilute the signal that produces enforcement.
Where each agency falls short
Honest expectations save frustration later.
- State AGs are funded for enforcement, not concierge service. Individual mediation is provided where staffing allows. They are uneven across states.
- The FTC does not contact the business about your specific case. Your complaint becomes one record in a database used to spot patterns.
- The CFPB only covers financial products. Disputes outside that scope get routed elsewhere or closed.
- The BBB cannot compel anything. Companies can and do ignore BBB complaints with no legal consequence.
Industry-specific shortcuts
Some categories have a more useful agency than the four above. If your dispute fits one of these, file there first.
- Identity theft — IdentityTheft.gov (FTC) gives you a recovery plan and a sworn report you can use elsewhere.
- Internet crime — IC3.gov (FBI) for any scheme involving the internet, including business email compromise.
- Securities and investment fraud — the SEC (sec.gov/tcr) and your state securities regulator. State AGs will often refer these.
- Healthcare and Medicare — your state insurance commissioner; for Medicare specifically, 1-800-MEDICARE.
- Real estate licensing — your state real-estate commission, separate from the AG.
- Contractors — your state contractor licensing board, often in parallel with the AG. See our contractor fraud guide.
- Tax-related fraud — TIGTA for IRS impersonation; the IRS's own forms for tax preparer abuse.
Common mistakes when choosing
- Filing only with the BBB. If a business does not care about its BBB rating, the complaint goes nowhere. Pair it with a regulator.
- Filing with the FTC and expecting a personal response. The FTC's value is in pattern detection and downstream enforcement; it will not call the business about your case.
- Filing with the wrong state's AG. The right state is usually where the business is located or where the harm occurred. If neither matches your home state, file in the right one or in addition to it.
- Filing only with a state AG when the dispute is purely about a credit card or bank. The CFPB's mandatory-response rules produce faster results for financial-product issues.
- Stopping after one filing for serious cases. Cross-filing with one parallel channel is usually appropriate.