When a bank wrongly charges fees, a debt collector harasses someone over a disputed bill, or a mortgage servicer fails to apply payments correctly, Americans have a formal recourse: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Filing a complaint with the CFPB is not like venting on Yelp. Companies are legally required to respond within a defined window, typically 15 days. That legal muscle makes the CFPB fundamentally different from most consumer redress channels.