WASHINGTON— Capital One Financial Corp. COF +0.86% , the fifth-largest player in the U.S. credit-card market, was the No. 1 company for consumer complaints, based on new data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Capital One topped its larger market peers, including American Express Co. AXP +1.31%and J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +1.12% & Co., with 2,713 complaints, according to 10 months of data received under a Freedom of Information Act request.
The consumer agency's data cover almost 17,000 credit-card complaints it received from consumers between July 2011 and May 2012.
The five largest credit-card issuers are American Express, J.P. Morgan, Bank of AmericaCorp. BAC +1.10% , Citigroup Inc. C +1.23% and Capital One, respectively, according to data on purchase volume provided by the Nilson Report.
American Express logged the fewest number of complaints among the five biggest credit-card companies by market share.
The consumer agency Tuesday launched a searchable database of credit-card complaints, giving the public access to information about individual credit-card complaints.
The public database available online is in test form for now and includes 137 complaints the bureau received since June 1.
Capital One, the subject of 33 of those 137 complaints, came in as the biggest source of credit-card complaints in that data set.
For the 10-month period between last July and May 2012, Capital One's complaints included more than 400 on billing-statement and billing disputes and more than 200 each on collection practices, interest rates and identity-theft concerns.
"We're always interested in customer feedback—good and bad—since we are focused on continuous improvement and providing a great customer experience," a Capital One spokeswoman said.
American Express was the subject of 872 complaints over the 10-month period. J.P. Morgan and Bank of America were the source of more than 1,800 complaints each. Citigroup accounted for more than 2,300 complaints.
J.P. Morgan said it welcomes feedback from its customers and added that it has taken steps to improve its credit cards. "While we are pleased with the progress we've made, we look forward to further improving the service our customers expect and deserve," the company said.
Bank of America, in a statement, said, "Our objective is to work with our customers to resolve any issues they may have."
American Express, said "in the vast majority of cases" it is "able to work directly with our customers to resolve any concerns they have." A Citigroup spokeswoman said the bank has been working to address consumers' concerns.
Financial firms have complained about the bureau's database, arguing the data are misleading and will unfairly tarnish banks' reputations.
"The bureau's plan to release unverified data is disappointing and could mislead consumers," the American Bankers Association said. The group said that of the more than 383 million credit-card accounts in the U.S., less than 1% have submitted a complaint to the bureau.
The consumer bureau said it doesn't verify the accuracy of the complaints but does take steps to confirm that the complaints are linked between consumers and the identified company.
"We believe the disclosure of this data not only serves the public interest, but promotes the advancement of the free-enterprise system," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said.
The bureau said it thinks the database will improve the credit-card market and shed light on problematic industry trends.
—Andrew Seidman contributed to this article.