How to File a Complaint With the FTC

This is general information for US consumers, not legal advice. Which agency can help depends on the facts of your case and where you live.

What does an FTC complaint actually do?

The FTC is the federal consumer protection agency. Its guide to solving problems with a business is blunt about the limit: the agency doesn't resolve individual complaints, but reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov help authorities spot patterns that could lead to investigations.

The FTC's own explanation of why to report fills in the rest. Investigators use reports to build cases against scammers, other law enforcement agencies can see the reports and use them in their own investigations, and each report is described as a piece of the puzzle. The FTC sues scammers and works to shut down their operations.

So the honest framing is this. A complaint is public-interest work with a small chance of a downstream effect. It is not a refund request. Nobody at the FTC will write to the company on your behalf and ask it to pay you.

Is it still worth filing?

Yes, in two situations:

• The company took your money through deception. Charges you never agreed to, a trial that hid its terms, a product that never shipped, an impersonation scam. The FTC wants these reports, and they are the cases it can act on.
• You suspect the company does this to many people. One report looks small. A hundred with the same company name and the same story is a pattern.

It is a poor use of your time as a first move on an ordinary refund dispute, such as a store that refused a return. Start with the steps in what to do when a company refuses a refund. File the FTC report after the company has had its chance, or alongside your other steps, because filing costs nothing.

How do you file a complaint with the FTC?

1. Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov. This is the FTC's reporting site for fraud, scams and bad business practices. The FTC's contact page lists the same site, plus IdentityTheft.gov for identity theft and donotcall.gov for unwanted calls.
2. Or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). The contact page names this as the number for the Consumer Response Center.
3. Answer the questions about what happened. Have the company, dates, amounts and payment method from the list below in front of you.
4. Save your confirmation. Write down the date you filed and any report number you receive, and keep a screenshot of the final page. You will want it for your timeline if you escalate elsewhere.

The FTC's own video page on filing a complaint says it is looking for reports of businesses that don't deliver on their promises or that take your money through deception, which is a useful test of whether your story fits.

What should you include in the report?

Have these ready before you start, so you file once and file well:

• The company's exact name, as it appears on your card or bank statement, plus its website and any phone number or email you dealt with.
• Dates: when you bought or signed up, when you were charged, when you asked for a refund, and what they said.
• The amount and how you paid (credit card, debit card, PayPal, app store).
• What they promised versus what happened, in two or three plain sentences.
• Your contact attempts, with dates and any reference numbers.

Stick to facts. "Charged $89 on October 3 after I cancelled on September 28 and got a confirmation email" is useful. A paragraph about how angry you are is not.

If you have the dates scattered across emails and statements, assemble them first. Our refund request email guide shows how to turn the same facts into a clear written request, and the same timeline works for every complaint below.

When is the CFPB the better channel?

If your problem involves a bank, credit card, prepaid card, money transfer app or similar financial product, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does something the FTC does not: it sends your complaint to the company and tracks the response.

According to the CFPB's complaint page, it accepts complaints about checking and savings accounts, credit cards, credit reports, debt collection, money transfers and virtual currency, mortgages, payday and personal loans, prepaid cards, student loans, and vehicle loans or leases. The process it describes:

• You submit the complaint, and you can track its status online.
• The CFPB sends it to the company, or to another agency if one is better suited.
• The company responds. The CFPB says most companies respond within 15 days, and some give a final response within 60 days.
• You are notified when the company responds, and you have 60 days to give feedback.

It also warns that you generally can't submit a second complaint about the same problem, so include everything the first time. For phone, internet or cable services, the CFPB page points people elsewhere, so this channel is for financial products only.

A common use: you disputed a charge, and your card issuer rejected it with no explanation. That is a CFPB complaint about the issuer. Our guide to chargebacks versus refunds explains the dispute step that comes first.

When should you go to your state attorney general?

Your state consumer protection office can handle what the FTC won't. The FTC's guide says these offices might mediate complaints, conduct investigations and take action against companies that break consumer protection laws. For a local business, a company based in your state, or a dispute where you want someone to contact the company directly, this is often the most useful government channel.

The National Association of Attorneys General does not take individual complaints itself. Its consumer complaint page instead lists every state and territory with a consumer protection page, a link to file a complaint, and in many cases an email address and phone number. Pick your state, not the company's state if they differ, and check the state's own page for how it handles complaints.

Which channel should you use?

Your situation	Best first channel	Why
Online scam, impersonation, deceptive charges	FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov	The FTC builds cases from these reports
Bank, card issuer or payment app mishandled a dispute	CFPB	It forwards your complaint and tracks the company's response
Local or in-state business refuses a fair refund	State attorney general	State offices can mediate and act under state law
Identity theft	IdentityTheft.gov	The FTC's dedicated site for it
Company just said no to a refund	Your card issuer's dispute process	Faster and more direct than any complaint
Same company, several channels apply	File with more than one	A report to one agency does not block another

What happens after you file?

Expect little contact. The FTC says it does not resolve individual complaints, so do not wait for a reply before taking your next step. Your clock for other remedies keeps running: card billing-error disputes have short windows, and the FTC and CFPB reports do not pause them.

Use the time while you wait:

1. Send the company a written request with an amount and a deadline. How to find the right company email address helps if you only have a contact form.
2. Call, with a reference number as your goal. See our tips for asking for a refund on the phone.
3. Dispute the charge with your card issuer if the company stays silent.
4. Send a complaint to the CFPB or your state attorney general, depending on the table above.

Complaints work best as one piece of a paper trail. A regulator complaint plus a dated email plus a card dispute is a stronger file than any one of them.

If you want the complaint text, a dispute summary and an evidence checklist drafted from your own case, the Pro escalation pack at DemandRefund pricing builds them from the facts you already entered.

FAQ

Does the FTC get my money back?

Not directly. The FTC says it doesn't resolve individual complaints. It uses reports to investigate and bring cases against companies, but you should not expect money back from a single report. For your own money, use the company, your card issuer or bank, and the complaint channels above.

How long does an FTC complaint take to file?

The form is short if you have your details ready: company name, dates, amounts, how you paid, and a few sentences of what happened. Gathering the facts is the slow part, which is why the checklist above is worth using first.

Can I file with the FTC and the CFPB for the same problem?

Yes. They are separate agencies with different jobs. The FTC collects reports about businesses and scams. The CFPB forwards complaints about financial products to the company and tracks the response. A report to one does not block the other.

Should I file a complaint before or after contacting the company?

After, in most refund cases. Give the company a written chance to fix it, with a deadline, because that is what the FTC recommends in its guide to solving problems with a business. If the problem is outright fraud or an impersonation scam, report it right away. There is no reason to negotiate with a scammer first.

Is there a deadline to report to the FTC?

The pages used for this guide do not state one for reports. The deadlines that bite are elsewhere: credit card billing disputes and bank error claims run on short statement-based clocks, so handle those first. See the dispute steps in our refund refusal guide.