Data Dictionary

Dataset: CFPB Consumer Complaints — North Carolina Credit Card Fees & Interest Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Public Complaint Database Rows: 542 complaints Date Range: January 2024 – April 2026 File: data/raw/complaints.csv

# Column Name Data Type Description Example Value
1 Date received Date (MM/DD/YY) Date the CFPB received the complaint from the consumer 01/27/25
2 Product String Top-level CFPB product category Credit card
3 Sub-product String Sub-category of the product General-purpose credit card or charge card
4 Issue String Primary issue category reported by the consumer Fees or interest
5 Sub-issue String Specific sub-category of the issue. Three values in this dataset: Problem with fees, Charged too much interest, Unexpected increase in interest rate Problem with fees
6 Consumer complaint narrative String (free text) Consumer-written description of the complaint. Present in 337 of 542 records (62.2%). Personally identifiable information is redacted by CFPB (shown as XXXX). "Discover Card keeps charging me interest and late fees..."
7 Company public response String Optional public statement from the company. Often None or a standard disclaimer. Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
8 Company String Name of the financial institution the complaint is filed against SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
9 State String (2-char) U.S. state abbreviation. All records in this dataset are NC (North Carolina). NC
10 ZIP code String Consumer ZIP code. May be partially masked (e.g., 283XX) or fully masked (XXXXX) to protect privacy. 106 records have masked ZIPs. 27406, 283XX, XXXXX
11 Tags String CFPB demographic tags. Values: None, Servicemember, Older American, Older American, Servicemember Servicemember
12 Consumer consent provided? String Whether the consumer consented to publish their narrative. Values: Consent provided, Consent not provided, N/A Consent provided
13 Submitted via String Channel through which the complaint was submitted. Values: Web, Referral, Phone, Postal mail Web
14 Date sent to company Date (MM/DD/YY) Date the CFPB forwarded the complaint to the company 01/27/25
15 Company response to consumer String Company’s resolution outcome. Values: Closed with explanation, Closed with monetary relief, Closed with non-monetary relief, In progress Closed with explanation
16 Timely response? String Whether the company responded within the CFPB-required timeframe. Values: Yes, No Yes
17 Consumer disputed? String Whether the consumer disputed the company’s response. In this dataset, all values are N/A (dispute tracking was discontinued by CFPB). N/A
18 Complaint ID String (numeric) Unique CFPB identifier for each complaint 11798603

Derived Fields (added during cleaning)

Field Description
year_month Calendar month derived from Date received (format: YYYY-MM)
has_narrative Boolean: True if Consumer complaint narrative is non-empty
zip_masked Boolean: True if ZIP code contains any X characters
zip_fully_masked Boolean: True if ZIP code is exactly XXXXX
timely_response_bool Boolean: True if Timely response? equals Yes

Notes

  • All records are filtered to State = NC and Issue = Fees or interest.
  • The Consumer disputed? field is uniformly N/A — CFPB discontinued dispute tracking in 2017.
  • Dollar amounts in narratives are redacted as {$X.XX} by CFPB.
  • Dates use two-digit year format (%m/%d/%y), where 25 = 2025.