Use CFPB.gov when the first question is not which app to try, but whether a mortgage, credit report, debt collection, student loan, or bank account problem belongs with the company, a federal complaint channel, or another regulator. The site is built for U.S. consumer finance issues and is most useful when you need plain-language explanations, official complaint routing, or form-by-form help before signing or disputing something.
Judge it on scope and clarity, not breadth alone. A good fit means your issue falls inside covered consumer financial products, you can document dates, balances, and prior contact attempts, and you need to know what happens after filing. Its most useful sections are the complaint intake rules, mortgage disclosure explainers, and the public complaint database. It is less useful for non-financial consumer fraud, where the site may direct you to a different agency.
