Consumer agency to publicize complaints

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WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- The new U.S. financial watchdog agency is adding information to its database on verified consumer complaints about their credit cards.

Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Board say the database, beginning Tuesday, will include the names of companies involved in complaints, information on the companies' responses and even the Zip codes of the people making the complaints, The Washington Post reported. Initially, only complaints filed since June 1 will be included, although the agency says it has received 17,000 credit card complaints in the year it has existed.

"The information helps us, and it should be available to help others too," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said.

The banking industry has argued against a release of detailed information on complaints, saying many of them are without merit.

"It's an unlevel playing field," said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association. "It appears to be a gotcha mentality when it didn't have to be that way."