When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau releases its complaint database, it withheld releasing complaint narratives since it was an invasion of privacy. 

MFY Legal Services appealed the CFPB’s decision to withhold mortgage complaint narratives it requested pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, according to an article from Ballard Spahr.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, there is an exemption that prohibits the disclosure of certain information that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, the article explains. 

However, MFY argued in its appeal that FOIA Exemption 6 does not give the CFPB a basis to completely withhold complaint narratives and it must therefore produce the narratives with names, account numbers, loan numbers, and other directly identifying information redacted, the article said.