U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
SEC Seal
Home | Previous Page
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Investor Complaints and Questions

Slight Decrease in Investor Contacts

During fiscal 2003 (October 1, 2002, to September 30, 2003), the SEC's investor assistance staff received 70,574 complaints and questions, a 14% decrease compared with fiscal year 2002. Nearly 40% of these contacts involved telephone calls, approximately 42% came in electronically through our online investor complaint form or email, and the remainder included letters, faxes, and personal visits.


"Other contacts" includes repeat contacts, contacts with insufficient information to process, and contacts not within our jurisdiction.

Complaint Trends

Although complaints in most categories significantly declined during 2003, complaints concerning commissions and administrative fees rose by approximately 7% over 2002. In addition, complaints concerning corporate bankruptcy increased by 8%, entering our "top ten" list for the first time.

The ten most common complaints we received during 2002 included:

  Complaint Type FY 2003 Totals* FY 2002 Totals* Change
1 Misrepresentations 1,502 1,698 Down 12%
2 Fees, commissions, and administrative costs 1,428 1,331 Up 7%
3 Unsuitable recommendations 917 1,002 Down 8%
4 Transfer of account problems 840 1,031 Down 19%
5 Unauthorized transactions 837 990 Down 15%
6 Failure to follow customer's instructions 668 858 Down 22%
7 Failures to process/delays in executing orders 582 733 Down 21%
8 Bankruptcy 458 424 Up 8%
9 Errors/omissions in account records 436 580 Down 25%
10 Cold calling 431 429 N/A

* During 2003, we changed to a new data recording system that includes secondary as well as primary complaint codes in our totals. For that reason, our 2002 totals appear higher than previously reported in our 2002 Annual Report.

As in years past, we received substantially more complaints about broker-dealers than any other type of entity (including issuers, mutual fund companies, and transfer agents). The top five complaints against broker-dealers involved:

  Complaints Against Broker-Dealers Only FY 2003 Totals* FY 2002 Totals* Change
1 Fees, commissions, and administrative costs 1,251 1,159 Up 8%
2 Misrepresentations 997 1,119 Down 11%
3 Unsuitable recommendations 791 845 Down 6%
4 Unauthorized transactions 687 857 Down 20%
5 Transfer of account problems 674 801 Down 16%

 

http://www.sec.gov/news/data.htm
Home | Previous Page
Modified: 02/10/2004