CFPB Complaint Template for a Denied Dispute

When a CFPB complaint fits a denied dispute

Your bank or card issuer denied your dispute, and you believe the denial was wrong — the charge was fraud, the item never arrived, the merchant never delivered what was promised, or a billing error was never corrected. You have already argued with front-line support and gotten nowhere. That is exactly the situation the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint process is built for.

The CFPB does not decide your dispute itself. What it does is forward your complaint directly to the company through its secure Company Portal and require a response. That formal routing — with a response clock attached — is why a CFPB complaint often gets a case a second, more careful look. Before you file, make sure you have the denial in writing: a complaint that says "they told me no on the phone" is far weaker than one that quotes the denial letter and answers it point by point. If you have not yet worked through your other options, run Denied Dispute: Next Steps first, and read Dispute Denied? What to do next for the full set of escalation routes.

One scope note: the CFPB accepts complaints about checking and savings accounts, credit cards, prepaid cards, money transfers, and other consumer financial products. If your complaint is about inaccurate information on a credit report, you are required by law to first dispute that information directly with the credit reporting agency — the CFPB will tell you so at filing.

First, the honest limits

File with clear eyes about what a CFPB complaint is — and is not:

It is NOT a guaranteed reversal. The company must respond, but it decides the outcome. A complaint gets your case reviewed through a formal channel; it does not order the company to refund you.
It does NOT pause any separate deadline. Your other clocks keep running while the complaint is pending — including the card-network dispute window (roughly 120 days from the transaction or delivery date, depending on the network and reason) and the 60-day statement windows under the Fair Credit Billing Act and Regulation E. File the complaint in parallel with protecting those deadlines, never instead of them. See the 60-day vs 120-day rule and what happens after the 60-day window.
You generally cannot file a second complaint about the same problem. Make your first filing complete — that is what the template below is for.

If the CFPB route does not resolve it, you still have other paths — a state attorney general complaint, small-claims court, or a regulator specific to the product — covered in Denied Dispute: Next Steps.

What happens after you file

The CFPB publishes the process in five steps. Here is what each one means for a denied dispute:

Step	What happens	Timing
1. Complaint submitted	You submit online or by phone. You receive email updates and can check the status in the CFPB portal.	Online filing takes about 7–10 minutes; phone filing 25–30 minutes
2. Route	The CFPB screens the complaint for completeness, then sends it directly to the company. If another agency could help more, the CFPB sends it there and tells you.	—
3. Company response	The company reviews the complaint, communicates with you as needed, and responds to the issues raised.	Generally within 15 calendar days; if the response is not final, a final response within 60 calendar days
4. Complaint published	Information about your complaint is published in the public Consumer Complaint Database without information that directly identifies you.	—
5. Consumer review	The CFPB tells you when the company responds. You review the response and give feedback on whether it resolved the problem.	60 days to provide feedback

The "most companies respond within 15 days" line on the CFPB's own filing page is a general expectation, not a promise for your case — some companies use the full 60 days for a final response, and they will tell you the response is in progress while they do.

Before you file: gather these

The CFPB's own advice for an effective complaint is simple: explain clearly and concisely what happened (with key details and documents), what you think would be a fair resolution, and what you have already done to try to resolve it. Before you open the form, collect:

The denial letter or message — the date, the reason given, and any case or claim number.
The transaction details — date, amount, merchant name, and the last four digits of the card (never the full number).
A dated timeline — when you first reported the problem, every call or message since, and what each representative said.
Your evidence — statements showing the charge, merchant correspondence, delivery or cancellation proof, and screenshots. The CFPB form accepts up to 50 pages of attached documents.
The law that fits your case — credit card billing errors fall under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA); debit card and other electronic transfers fall under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E. Use the one that matches your card; do not cite both. Background: the Fair Credit Billing Act, explained and Regulation E debit disputes.

The copy-paste complaint template

Copy the text below into the CFPB complaint form's description field, replacing every bracketed placeholder. Keep it factual and under control: the strongest complaints read like a timeline, not an argument. If you already wrote a dispute letter, our Dispute Letter Generator covers the same structure for the bank itself.

One-sentence summary: I am complaining that [bank or card issuer name] wrongly denied my dispute of a $[amount] charge from [merchant name] on [transaction date], and has refused to reverse it despite [one reason: e.g. evidence the item never arrived / proof the transaction was unauthorized].

What happened, in order:

[Date] — I was charged $[amount] by [merchant name] for [what you bought or what happened]. [Date] — I discovered the problem when [what you found: e.g. the item never arrived / I saw a charge I did not authorize / the merchant charged me twice]. [Date] — I contacted [merchant name] and [what happened: e.g. received no response / was refused a refund]. [Date] — I filed a dispute with [bank or card issuer name], claim number [claim number if you have one]. [Date] — The company denied my dispute, stating [the exact reason from the denial letter].

Why the denial is wrong: The denial states [reason], but [the fact that answers it: e.g. the tracking shows the item was never delivered / the charge was made from a device and location I have never used / I cancelled in writing on (date) before the charge]. I have attached [evidence: e.g. the delivery record, the cancellation confirmation, the statement showing the charge].

What I did to resolve this before filing: I contacted [bank or card issuer name] on [dates] by [phone / secure message / letter], spoke with [names or reference numbers if you have them], and was told [outcome]. I also contacted the merchant on [date] and [outcome]. I am filing with the CFPB because the company's final position, given on [date], was to deny the dispute.

The law that applies: [Choose one. For a credit card:] This was a billing error under the Fair Credit Billing Act, and I notified the creditor in writing within the Act's 60-day statement window on [date]. [For a debit card or electronic transfer:] This was an unauthorized electronic fund transfer under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, and I reported it within 60 days of the statement showing the transfer, on [date].

What I am asking for: I ask that [bank or card issuer name] reverse the $[amount] charge, restore any interest or fees charged on that amount, and correct any related reporting on my account. If the company maintains the denial, I ask it to explain, with the specific evidence it relied on, why the attached documents do not support reversal.

Evidence attached:

Account statement showing the disputed charge
The company's written denial of my dispute
Merchant correspondence (or proof I contacted the merchant)
Delivery, cancellation, or authorization evidence for this transaction
Notes or reference numbers from my calls and messages with the company

Three rules for the finished text: never include your full card number, account number, or Social Security number in the narrative; keep every date accurate — a wrong date hands the company an easy rebuttal; and leave out anything you cannot support with an attached document.

How to file it, step by step

1. Go to consumerfinance.gov/complaint — or call (855) 411-2372, toll free, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except federal holidays). Online filing takes about 7–10 minutes; phone filing takes 25–30 minutes.
2. Choose the product and the issue. For a denied card dispute, that is usually "Checking or savings account" for a debit dispute or "Credit card" for a credit dispute, then the issue category that matches what went wrong (for example, a problem with a purchase or a billing dispute). Pick the closest match — the company still receives your full written description.
3. Name the company. Select it from the list in the form. If it is not listed, provide its complete contact information; the CFPB will tell you if it cannot send the complaint to that company.
4. Paste your complaint text from the template above, then attach your documents (limit 50 pages).
5. Provide your contact information. You will need your name, email, phone number, and address — without an address, the company cannot respond to your complaint. You will create a secure account to track the complaint's status.
6. Submit, then save your confirmation. Note the complaint number and the date. Do not file a second complaint about the same problem — if you need to add information, use the portal or the contact route the CFPB gives you.

For the general filing walkthrough, see our companion guide How to file a CFPB complaint: step-by-step. Not sure your denied dispute is strong enough to escalate? Check it first with Do I Have a Case?

After you submit: reviewing the response

Watch for the CFPB's email updates and check the portal for status. When the company responds, compare its answer against your evidence line by line: did it address the specific reason you challenged, or did it repeat the original denial without new reasoning? You have 60 days from the response to give feedback through the CFPB — say plainly whether the response resolved the problem, and if not, which fact or document it failed to answer. That feedback goes to the company and becomes part of the complaint record.

If the response still denies you, do not re-file the same complaint. Move to the next route in Denied Dispute: Next Steps — and keep every document, because the same evidence file serves every escalation that follows.

FAQ

No. A CFPB complaint is forwarded to the company, which must respond — generally within 15 days, with a final response within 60 days — but the company decides the outcome. A complaint gets your case reviewed through a formal channel; it does not order a reversal and it does not pause any separate dispute deadline.

Companies generally respond within 15 days, and in some cases provide an in-progress response with a final response within 60 days. After the company responds, you have 60 days to review it and give feedback. Filing online takes about 7–10 minutes according to the CFPB; filing by phone takes 25–30 minutes.

A one-sentence summary, a chronological list of facts with dates and amounts, what you already did to resolve it with the company, the law you believe applies (the Fair Credit Billing Act for credit card billing errors, or the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E for debit and electronic transfers), the specific resolution you are asking for, and an evidence list with attached documents.

The CFPB publishes information about complaints in its public Consumer Complaint Database without information that directly identifies you. You can also choose whether your written description of what happened is shared.