Consumer Federation of California

Americans sure have a lot to gripe about these days — from problems with banks or their wireless provider to being victimized by scams run by impostors. The Federal Trade Commission received more than 3.08 million consumer complaints in 2015.

For the first time in 15 years, the FTC received more debt-collection complaints (897,655) from consumers than it did identity theft complaints (490,220), which had previously held the top spot among consumer complaints since 2000.

Debt collection gripes made up 29 percent of the complaint calls to the FTC last year, while 16 percent of the complaints were related to identity theft. The Consumer Sentinel Network data book is an annual report documenting consumer complaints received by the FTC, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies, national consumer protection organizations and non-governmental organizations.

“While debt collection complaints rose to the top spot among complaint categories, the report notes that this was due in large part to a surge in complaints contributed by a data contributor who collects complaints via a mobile app,” the FTC explains. “This change caused a spike in complaints related to unwanted debt collection mobile phone calls.”

Continue reading on moneytalksnews.com to find out the other top complaint categories » and see a video, “Tax Hacks 2016: Avoid These Tax-Related Scams.”

Tags: Debt Collectors, FTC, Identity Theft, Scams