Which Companies Get the Most Government Benefit Card Complaints
Original analysis of 13,282 records from the CFPB, 2014–2025. Published October 19, 2026.
We counted 13,282 published CFPB complaints about government benefit cards, such as Direct Express, EBT and state benefit cards, from July 2014 through 2025 and ranked the companies named in them.
What the CFPB complaint records show
Comerica, the administrator of Treasury's Direct Express card from 2008 to January 2025, was named in 4,041 of the 13,282 published CFPB complaints about government benefit cards from July 2014 through 2025, or 30.4%, more than any other company. Bank of America followed with 3,614, U.S. Bancorp with 2,136. Five companies account for 91.3% of all such complaints; the counts are not adjusted for the number of cardholders each company serves.
- 30%Comerica share of benefit card complaints, 2014–25
- 91%Share of the five most-named companies, 2014–25
- 13.3KPublished complaints, July 2014–2025
Comerica tops the ranking
Comerica was named in 4,041 government benefit card complaints (30.4%), ahead of Bank of America (3,614), U.S. Bancorp (2,136), Conduent (1,642) and Fiserv (692).
Comerica's share rose in 2025
In 2025, Comerica drew 801 of 1,795 complaints, or 44.6%, up from 456 in 2024. That is the most for the company in any full year in the series.
A spike in 2020
Complaints rose from 624 in 2019 to 3,503 in 2020, 5.6× as many. Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and Conduent account for 85.2% of that increase.
Purchases and transfers lead the issues
From 2023 to 2025, "Problem with a purchase or transfer" was the issue in 37.1% of complaints and "Trouble using the card" in 25.4%.
Monetary relief varies widely by company
From 2023 to 2025, Comerica reported closing 33.8% of its complaints with monetary relief and Bank of America 26.3%, against 1.4% for Fiserv and 0.7% for Conduent.
Which Benefit Card Companies Get the Most CFPB Complaints
The ranking covers all 123 company names, including the CFPB placeholder "Pending Company Match", that appear in at least one published government benefit card complaint received from July 2014 through December 2025.
Comerica leads with 4,041 complaints (30.4%), followed by Bank of America with 3,614 (27.2%), U.S. Bancorp with 2,136 (16.1%), Conduent with 1,642 (12.4%) and Fiserv with 692 (5.2%).
Together the five account for 12,125 complaints. The other 118 companies share 1,157, most of them fewer than a hundred each.
Companies are listed the way the CFPB names them. Fiserv appears in the database as FISERV FINXACT CORE. The CFPB database does not record which benefit program a card belongs to, so the ranking cannot separate Direct Express, EBT and state unemployment or benefit cards. According to a CFPB lawsuit, Comerica served approximately 3.4 million Direct Express cardholders when it was the program's exclusive administrator. The counts are not adjusted for the number of cardholders each company serves.
Government benefit card complaints by company, July 2014–2025
| Company | Complaints | Share | In 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comerica | 4,041 | 30.4% | 801 |
| Bank of America, N.A. | 3,614 | 27.2% | 343 |
| U.S. Bancorp | 2,136 | 16.1% | 109 |
| Conduent | 1,642 | 12.4% | 191 |
| Fiserv (Finxact Core) | 692 | 5.2% | 219 |
| KeyCorp | 265 | 2.0% | 22 |
| Netspend | 185 | 1.4% | 19 |
| American Express | 92 | 0.7% | 5 |
| Wells Fargo & Company | 67 | 0.5% | 2 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 57 | 0.4% | 5 |
All companies
| Company | Complaints | Share | In 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Community Bancorp | 42 | 0.3% | 12 |
| Empowerment Ventures | 39 | 0.3% | 0 |
| Block, Inc. | 33 | 0.2% | 12 |
| Chime Financial | 31 | 0.2% | 10 |
| PNC Bank N.A. | 23 | 0.2% | 3 |
| CITIBANK, N.A. | 21 | 0.2% | 3 |
| Paypal Holdings, Inc | 19 | 0.1% | 4 |
| OPTUM BANK, INC. | 17 | 0.1% | 5 |
| CARD Corporation | 16 | 0.1% | 1 |
| CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 14 | 0.1% | 0 |
| EQUIFAX, INC. | 13 | 0.1% | 2 |
| Securus J Holdings, LLC | 13 | 0.1% | 2 |
| Propel, Inc. | 12 | 0.1% | 4 |
| Experian Information Solutions Inc. | 11 | 0.1% | 1 |
| Google Compare Credit Cards Inc. | 10 | 0.1% | 2 |
| REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 10 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. | 9 | 0.1% | 1 |
| TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. | 8 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Fifth Third Financial | 7 | 0.1% | 0 |
| CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. | 5 | 0.0% | 0 |
| TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY | 5 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Army and Air Force Exchange Service | 4 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Credit Karma, LLC | 4 | 0.0% | 0 |
| FinCo Services Inc DBA Current | 4 | 0.0% | 1 |
| NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION | 4 | 0.0% | 1 |
| BANK OF THE WEST | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| DISCOVER BANK | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FNIS) | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Incomm Holdings Inc. | 3 | 0.0% | 1 |
| MoneyLion Inc. | 3 | 0.0% | 2 |
| PLS GROUP, INC | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION | 3 | 0.0% | 1 |
| WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE | 3 | 0.0% | 0 |
| ADP Inc. | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Automatic Data Processing, Inc. | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORPORATION, THE | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Medical Data Systems, Inc. | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Mercedes Benz Financial Services | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Rapid Investments Holdings, Inc | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SOFI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| WEBSTER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 2 | 0.0% | 0 |
| A.C.S. Companies, Inc. I | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| ALLY FINANCIAL INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| AMERIS BANCORP | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Access Capital Services, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Albert Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| American Credit Acceptance, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Amscot Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| BANCORPSOUTH BANK | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| BB&T CORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Bristlecone, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| CARDINAL FINANCIAL COMPANY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| CHECK INTO CASH INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| CLGF Holdco 1, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| CURO Intermediate Holdings | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| CUSTOMERS BANCORP, INC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Cedars Business Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Continental Finance Company, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Cottonwood Financial Ltd. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| DSW Carolina, LLC d/b/a Resource Services | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Eagle Accounts Group, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Early Warning Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Excella Recovery Group | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| FIRST INTERSTATE BANCSYSTEM, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| General Motors Financial Company, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Global Tel*Link Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| HOPE BANCORP, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Halsted Financial Services, LLC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Harpeth Financial Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Healthcare Finance Direct LLC. | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| IMC Capital, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Ingo Money, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| LEXISNEXIS | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| MARINER FINANCE, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| MECHANICS BANK | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Maximus Federal Services, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| Mineola Texas Star, LLC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Momnt Technologies, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| NCP Holdings, L.P. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| NISSAN MOTOR ACCEPTANCE COMPANY LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Nationwide Credit Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| NerdWallet, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Ocwen Financial Corporation | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| PLAID INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Pending Company Match | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Plastyc, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express) | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SIMM Associates, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| STATE BANK OF INDIA - NEW YORK BRANCH | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| STATE EMPLOYEES’ CREDIT UNION | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Synovus Bank | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| TRANSWORLD SYSTEMS INC | 1 | 0.0% | 1 |
| True Link Financial, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| UMB FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| UPGRADE, INC. | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| UnBanked | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| VALLEY NATIONAL BANCORP | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| Vantage Sourcing, LLC | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| WAFD BANK | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| WESTERN ALLIANCE BANCORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
| XOOM CORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% | 0 |
Complaints by the date the CFPB received them, July 21, 2014, through December 31, 2025. Share = the company's complaints divided by all published government benefit card complaints in the period.
How Benefit Card Complaints Changed Since 2014
The chart counts published government benefit card complaints by the calendar year the CFPB received them.
Complaints rose from 145 in 2015 to 624 in 2019 and reached 3,503 in 2020, the most of any year in the series. They fell to 1,218 in 2022 and rose again to 1,795 in 2025.
The 2020 jump came mostly from three companies: Bank of America rose from 39 to 658 complaints, U.S. Bancorp from 17 to 1,139 and Conduent from 61 to 773. The data do not record why consumers filed. Comerica's count grew in most years and reached 801 in 2025, 75.7% more than in 2024.
Government benefit cards were 33.6% of all prepaid card complaints in 2019, 65.4% in 2020 and 27.6% in 2025.
Government benefit card complaints by year received
- 201448Comerica 34 · BofA 4 · Conduent 0
- 2015145Comerica 73 · BofA 7 · Conduent 0
- 2016142Comerica 91 · BofA 6 · Conduent 9
- 2017258Comerica 169 · BofA 16 · Conduent 19
- 2018280Comerica 180 · BofA 25 · Conduent 19
- 2019624Comerica 457 · BofA 39 · Conduent 61
- 20203,503Comerica 620 · BofA 658 · Conduent 773
- 20212,382Comerica 428 · BofA 931 · Conduent 244
- 20221,218Comerica 333 · BofA 518 · Conduent 106
- 20231,395Comerica 399 · BofA 609 · Conduent 115
- 20241,492Comerica 456 · BofA 458 · Conduent 105
- 20251,795Comerica 801 · BofA 343 · Conduent 191
2014 covers July 21 to December 31 only, the first and last dates in the data for that year. The card category was filed under "Prepaid card" until April 2017, under "Credit card or prepaid card" from April 2017 to 2023 and under "Prepaid card" again from 2023. 2026 is incomplete and not shown.
What Benefit Card Complaints Are About
Consumers pick an issue when they file. The chart covers the 4,682 government benefit card complaints received from 2023 through 2025.
"Problem with a purchase or transfer" was the most common issue (37.1%), followed by "Trouble using the card" (25.4%).
The mix differs by company. For Comerica, "Trouble using the card" led with 36.0% of its complaints. For Bank of America, "Problem with a purchase or transfer" led with 45.1%, and for Conduent "Problem with a purchase or transfer" with 39.2%. The CSV breaks down the issues for each of the five most-named companies.
Government benefit card complaints by issue, 2023–2025
- Problem with a purchase or transfer1,73837.1% of complaints
- Trouble using the card1,18925.4% of complaints
- Problem getting a card or closing an account89319.1% of complaints
- Unexpected or other fees81417.4% of complaints
- Advertising360.8% of complaints
- Problem with overdraft120.3% of complaints
Which Benefit Card Companies Report Monetary Relief
Companies report how they closed each complaint. The table shows the share each company closed with monetary relief, 2023 to 2025.
Across all companies, 21.3% of complaints were closed with monetary relief. Comerica reported 33.8%, Bank of America 26.3%, U.S. Bancorp 7.6%, Fiserv 1.4% and Conduent 0.7%.
The response category is chosen by the company, and the database contains no dollar amounts. A low share can reflect how a company labels its responses as well as how it resolves complaints. Shares for companies with few complaints swing widely and are best read alongside the complaint count.
Government benefit card complaints closed with monetary relief, 2023–2025
| Company | Complaints | Relief share |
|---|---|---|
| Comerica | 1,656 | 33.8% |
| Bank of America, N.A. | 1,410 | 26.3% |
| Fiserv (Finxact Core) | 514 | 1.4% |
| Conduent | 411 | 0.7% |
| U.S. Bancorp | 288 | 7.6% |
| Netspend | 66 | 0.0% |
| KeyCorp | 48 | 35.4% |
| New York Community Bancorp | 36 | 2.8% |
All companies
| Company | Complaints | Relief share |
|---|---|---|
| American Express | 30 | 30.0% |
| Chime Financial | 24 | 0.0% |
| Wells Fargo & Company | 22 | 0.0% |
| Block, Inc. | 21 | 0.0% |
| OPTUM BANK, INC. | 15 | 0.0% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 12 | 0.0% |
| Propel, Inc. | 12 | 0.0% |
| CITIBANK, N.A. | 8 | 12.5% |
| Paypal Holdings, Inc | 8 | 0.0% |
| Securus J Holdings, LLC | 8 | 0.0% |
| EQUIFAX, INC. | 7 | 0.0% |
| PNC Bank N.A. | 5 | 0.0% |
| Experian Information Solutions Inc. | 5 | 0.0% |
| REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 5 | 40.0% |
| Google Compare Credit Cards Inc. | 3 | 0.0% |
| Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. | 3 | 0.0% |
| Fifth Third Financial | 3 | 0.0% |
| Credit Karma, LLC | 3 | 33.3% |
| NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION | 3 | 0.0% |
| MoneyLion Inc. | 3 | 33.3% |
| CARD Corporation | 2 | 0.0% |
| CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. | 2 | 0.0% |
| DISCOVER BANK | 2 | 0.0% |
| Incomm Holdings Inc. | 2 | 0.0% |
| Medical Data Systems, Inc. | 2 | 0.0% |
| SOFI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 2 | 0.0% |
| CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% |
| TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| FinCo Services Inc DBA Current | 1 | 0.0% |
| BANK OF THE WEST | 1 | 0.0% |
| UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION | 1 | 0.0% |
| WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE | 1 | 0.0% |
| BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORPORATION, THE | 1 | 0.0% |
| GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA | 1 | 0.0% |
| Rapid Investments Holdings, Inc | 1 | 0.0% |
| TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 1 | 0.0% |
| WEBSTER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 1 | 0.0% |
| A.C.S. Companies, Inc. I | 1 | 0.0% |
| AMERIS BANCORP | 1 | 0.0% |
| Access Capital Services, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Albert Corporation | 1 | 0.0% |
| American Credit Acceptance, LLC | 1 | 0.0% |
| BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE | 1 | 0.0% |
| Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation | 1 | 0.0% |
| CARDINAL FINANCIAL COMPANY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP | 1 | 0.0% |
| Cedars Business Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% |
| Cottonwood Financial Ltd. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Early Warning Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% |
| FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO. | 1 | 0.0% |
| HOPE BANCORP, INC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Halsted Financial Services, LLC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Harpeth Financial Services, LLC | 1 | 0.0% |
| Healthcare Finance Direct LLC. | 1 | 100.0% |
| IMC Capital, LLC | 1 | 0.0% |
| Ingo Money, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| LEXISNEXIS | 1 | 0.0% |
| Maximus Federal Services, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Momnt Technologies, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Nationwide Credit Corporation | 1 | 0.0% |
| NerdWallet, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| PLAID INC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC. | 1 | 0.0% |
| SIMM Associates, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| STATE EMPLOYEES’ CREDIT UNION | 1 | 0.0% |
| TRANSWORLD SYSTEMS INC | 1 | 0.0% |
| True Link Financial, Inc. | 1 | 0.0% |
| Empowerment Ventures | 0 | — |
| TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY | 0 | — |
| Army and Air Force Exchange Service | 0 | — |
| Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FNIS) | 0 | — |
| PLS GROUP, INC | 0 | — |
| ADP Inc. | 0 | — |
| Automatic Data Processing, Inc. | 0 | — |
| BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 0 | — |
| Mercedes Benz Financial Services | 0 | — |
| SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | 0 | — |
| SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL | 0 | — |
| ALLY FINANCIAL INC. | 0 | — |
| Amscot Corporation | 0 | — |
| BANCORPSOUTH BANK | 0 | — |
| BB&T CORPORATION | 0 | — |
| Bristlecone, Inc. | 0 | — |
| CHECK INTO CASH INC. | 0 | — |
| CLGF Holdco 1, LLC | 0 | — |
| CURO Intermediate Holdings | 0 | — |
| CUSTOMERS BANCORP, INC | 0 | — |
| Continental Finance Company, LLC | 0 | — |
| DSW Carolina, LLC d/b/a Resource Services | 0 | — |
| Eagle Accounts Group, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Excella Recovery Group | 0 | — |
| FIRST INTERSTATE BANCSYSTEM, INC. | 0 | — |
| General Motors Financial Company, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Global Tel*Link Corporation | 0 | — |
| MARINER FINANCE, LLC | 0 | — |
| MECHANICS BANK | 0 | — |
| Mineola Texas Star, LLC. | 0 | — |
| NCP Holdings, L.P. | 0 | — |
| NISSAN MOTOR ACCEPTANCE COMPANY LLC | 0 | — |
| Ocwen Financial Corporation | 0 | — |
| Pending Company Match | 0 | — |
| Plastyc, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express) | 0 | — |
| STATE BANK OF INDIA - NEW YORK BRANCH | 0 | — |
| SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. | 0 | — |
| Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. | 0 | — |
| Synovus Bank | 0 | — |
| UMB FINANCIAL CORPORATION | 0 | — |
| UPGRADE, INC. | 0 | — |
| UnBanked | 0 | — |
| VALLEY NATIONAL BANCORP | 0 | — |
| Vantage Sourcing, LLC | 0 | — |
| WAFD BANK | 0 | — |
| WESTERN ALLIANCE BANCORPORATION | 0 | — |
| XOOM CORPORATION | 0 | — |
Share = complaints the company closed with monetary relief divided by all its published complaints received from 2023 through 2025.
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- CFPB government benefit card complaints by company, 2014-2025Published CFPB complaints about government benefit cards (Direct Express, EBT and state benefit cards) for every company named, July 2014 through December 2025, with recent-period counts and monetary relief. · 123 rows · CSV, 9 KB
- CFPB government benefit card complaints by issue and company, 2023-2025Published government benefit card complaints received 2023 through 2025 by the issue the consumer selected, for the five companies with the most complaints and for all companies. · 36 rows · CSV, 2 KB
- CFPB government benefit card complaints by issue, 2023-2025Published government benefit card complaints received 2023 through 2025 by the issue the consumer selected, all companies combined. · 6 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- CFPB government benefit card complaints by year and company, 2014-2025Published government benefit card complaints per calendar year received, split by the five companies with the most complaints, and their share of all prepaid card complaints (2014 starts July 21). · 12 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 19 KB
- Summary to print or forward (3 pages)Short answer, key figures, main chart, findings, method and citation · PDF, 233 KB
Charts for your story
Government benefit card complaints by company, July 2014–2025
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Government benefit card complaints by year received
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Government benefit card complaints by issue, 2023–2025
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Government benefit card complaints closed with monetary relief, 2023–2025
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How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). CFPB Government Benefit Card Complaints — Complaints by Company and Year (2014–2025) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/government-benefit-card-complaints-by-company
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_government_benefit_card_complaints_by_company,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {CFPB Government Benefit Card Complaints --- Complaints by Company and Year (2014--2025)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/government-benefit-card-complaints-by-company}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- Government benefit card complaints as a share of all prepaid card complaints, 2025: published 29%, our count 27.6% (1.4 percentage points apart).Consumer Response Annual Report, January 1 – December 31, 2025
- Prepaid card complaints received in 2025 and sent to companies for response: published 6,700, our count 6,502 (2.96% apart).Consumer Response Annual Report, January 1 – December 31, 2025
Full method and limits of the data
We kept every complaint in which the consumer selected a government benefit card as the type of card. The CFPB changed its complaint form twice, so the category has three labels: "Government benefit payment card" and "Electronic Benefit Transfer / EBT card" under the product "Prepaid card" (July 2014 to April 2017), "Government benefit card" under "Credit card or prepaid card" (April 2017 to 2023) and "Government benefit card" under "Prepaid card" (from 2023). Each complaint is assigned to the calendar year in which the CFPB received it, from July 21, 2014, through December 31, 2025; 2026 is incomplete and left out.
Companies are counted under the name in the CFPB company field, without merging name variants. Shares divide a company's complaints by all government benefit card complaints in the same period. The share of prepaid card complaints uses all prepaid card types as the base, including the prepaid card types filed under "Credit card or prepaid card" from 2017 to 2023.
To check the data, we compared two figures with the CFPB's Consumer Response Annual Report for 2025. The report says government benefit cards made up 29% of prepaid card complaints in 2025; in the public database the share is 27.6%. The report received about 10,300 prepaid complaints and referred part of them to other regulators; it does not say whether its card-type shares use all complaints received or only those sent to companies, while the public database holds only complaints sent to companies. The report says approximately 6,700 prepaid complaints were sent to companies in 2025; we count 6,502 published ones, 3.0% fewer.
What this data cannot tell you
- The database does not name the benefit program. A complaint filed under a government benefit card about Comerica, Conduent or another company may concern Direct Express, a state EBT card or a state unemployment or benefit card; the ranking is by company, not by program.
- Complaint counts are not adjusted for the number of cardholders or benefit dollars each company handles. The database is not a statistical sample of cardholders' experiences, and a complaint is an allegation by the consumer, not a finding against the company.
- Consumers choose the product and card type themselves, so some benefit card complaints may be filed under other categories and some complaints in this category may concern other cards.
- The CFPB publishes complaints after the company responds or after 15 days, and companies can update their responses. Counts for late 2025 and the monetary relief shares can therefore still shift slightly.
- Identical-looking complaints filed on the same day from the same ZIP code are counted as the CFPB publishes them, as separate complaints with separate IDs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many complaints are there about Direct Express?
The CFPB database does not label complaints by program. Comerica, which administered Direct Express from 2008 to January 2025, was named in 4,041 government benefit card complaints from July 2014 through 2025, including 801 in 2025.
Which company has the most government benefit card complaints?
Comerica, with 4,041 of 13,282 published CFPB complaints from July 2014 through 2025 (30.4%). Bank of America ranks second with 3,614 and U.S. Bancorp third with 2,136.
How many CFPB complaints are there about Conduent EBT cards?
Conduent was named in 1,642 government benefit card complaints from July 2014 through 2025, fourth among all companies, including 191 in 2025. The database does not separate EBT cards from other benefit cards after April 2017.
What problems do people report with Direct Express and other benefit cards?
From 2023 to 2025, the most common issue was "Problem with a purchase or transfer" (37.1% of complaints), followed by "Trouble using the card" (25.4%). For Comerica, "Trouble using the card" led with 36.0%.
Are government benefit card complaints going up?
They rose from 1,492 in 2024 to 1,795 in 2025, an increase of 20.3%. The highest year in the series was 2020, with 3,503 complaints.
Do benefit card companies pay after a CFPB complaint?
Sometimes. From 2023 to 2025, companies reported closing 21.3% of government benefit card complaints with monetary relief, with wide differences between companies: among the five most-named companies, Comerica reported 33.8% and Conduent 0.7%.
Sources
- Consumer Complaint Database — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Consumer Response Annual Report, January 1 – December 31, 2025 — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- CFPB v. Comerica Bank, Amended Complaint (N.D. Tex., No. 3:24-cv-03054) — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Enforcement action: Comerica Bank — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- How we share complaint data — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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