Editorial & Corrections Policy

How Pages Are Produced

PlainCollector's collector, state, and ranking pages are generated from one published federal dataset: the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, the bureau's public record of consumer-submitted complaints about debt-collection conduct. We download the database directly from the CFPB, load it into a structured database, and render every page from that database. The figures you see — complaint counts, last-12-month volume, timely-response and consumer-dispute rates, state breakdowns, and reputation grades — are computed from the CFPB's records, not hand-typed and not estimated by us.

This is a data-publishing model: the same template renders thousands of collector pages so that every company in the database is covered consistently. We are transparent that these pages are produced programmatically from the source data rather than written individually. The editorial work goes into the pipeline — how the data is sourced, normalized, aggregated, and graded — into the methodology, and into the written guides; not into hand-authoring thousands of near-identical collector pages, which would add no accuracy and invite inconsistency.

Sourcing Standards

• One primary source. Every complaint figure comes from the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to debt-collection complaints, as documented in our methodology. We do not blend in proprietary or third-party aggregators.
• Attribution in context. Each data page names the dataset and its 2013–2026 coverage near the figures, and links to the methodology that explains how the grade is computed.
• Derived values are labeled. Numbers we compute ourselves — the A–F reputation grade, composite score, and national percentile — are presented as our analysis of CFPB data, distinct from the bureau's raw counts.
• No invented data. Where a value is unavailable for a company (for example, no published response rate), the page says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate.
• Complaints, not verdicts. Every page states plainly that a CFPB complaint is a consumer filing, not a regulator's finding of wrongdoing.

How the Reputation Grade Is Calculated

Each collector's A–F grade combines four signals from the CFPB record: size-adjusted complaint volume, timely-response rate (the share of complaints answered within the federal window), consumer-dispute rate (the share of company responses consumers flagged as inadequate), and complaint trend (whether recent volume is rising, stable, or falling). Collectors are ranked on the resulting composite and split into five bands on a curve — each grade holds roughly a fifth of the 5,425 graded collectors, so a grade reflects standing relative to peers, not an absolute threshold. The methodology page documents the calculation in full.

Update Cadence

The CFPB updates its source database daily, but individual complaints take roughly 60–90 days to move through the full company-response cycle, so the most recent months look lighter than they eventually settle. We refresh our database from the CFPB and recompute grades on a recurring schedule, typically within about 30 days of pulling a new snapshot. The data coverage period is shown on every page. Between refreshes the figures are stable because the underlying snapshot does not change.

Corrections Process

If a figure on PlainCollector looks wrong, please tell us. Because our pages are generated from the CFPB's database, a genuine error almost always traces back to either the source data or our processing of it — so this is how we handle a report:

1. Report. Email corrections@plaincollector.com or use the contact page with the page URL and the number that looks off.
2. Verify. We compare the figure against the CFPB's published complaint record for that company, state, and period.
3. Fix at the source. If the value is wrong on our side, we correct it in the database and pipeline that generate the page — not just on the single page — so every affected page is fixed at once. If the figure faithfully reflects the CFPB's data, we explain that and, where useful, add context.
4. Note it. Material corrections that change a published figure are reflected the next time the page rebuilds, with the data coverage period shown so you can see which snapshot a page is based on.

We aim to acknowledge data-error reports within a few business days.

Editorial Independence

PlainCollector is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with the CFPB, the FTC, or any debt collector, credit-reporting agency, or creditor named on the site. We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from any company we cover. Our only revenue is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense; advertisers do not influence which companies we cover or how we present data. Our grades and rankings are computed mechanically from CFPB figures, so no company can pay to raise its grade or move down a worst-rated list.

Appropriate Use

PlainCollector is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or credit-repair advice. A reputation grade summarizes a company's public CFPB complaint record relative to peers; it is not a statement that any company broke the law, and a complaint is a consumer filing, not a proven violation. For decisions about a specific debt, dispute, or collector contacting you, consult a licensed attorney or a nonprofit credit counselor. See our full appropriate-use disclaimer.