Boo! Everything is down in the WebRecon Stats for Sept 2021

Quick analysis: Boo! Everything is down in the WebRecon Stats for Sept 2021

Just in time for Halloween, we are pleased to report that September’s litigation numbers were anything but frightful across the board.

FDCPA was down -12% from Aug and -6.7% YTD. TCPA was down -6.7% from Aug and -49.4% YTD (but view that with skepticism, as last year’s numbers were badly skewed by some abnormal filings). And FCRA was down 17.1% from Aug but still ekes out a +4.7% increase YTD.

Even CFPB complaints were down a few points, -3.3% lower than Aug but still going strong for the year at +36.1% YTD.

In other news, putative class actions represented 12.5% of FDCPA, 46.4% of TCPA and 3.8% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 44%(!) of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry took the top spot for representing the most consumers in August (29) and being most active consumer attorney of the year with 236 consumers represented so far in 2021. Honorable mention to attorney Michael T George who filed one FDCPA lawsuit representing 36 plaintiffs.

Complaint Statistics:

5874 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 937 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Sep 01, 2021 to Sep 30, 2021.

• 5874 CFPB Complaints
• 529 FDCPA, 66 Class Action (12.5%)
• 112 TCPA, 52 Class Action (46.4%)
• 392 FCRA, 15 Class Action (3.8%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 937 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 416, or (44%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3325 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 145 different US District Court branches.
• About 626 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 76 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 48 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 30 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 29 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 28 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 27 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 24 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – Foley Square
• 23 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
• 23 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 20 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 37 Consumers: MICHAEL T GEORGE
• Representing 29 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 28 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
• Representing 19 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
• Representing 17 Consumers: JIBRAEL S HINDI
• Representing 16 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 14 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 13 Consumers: GLORIA CHI-KI LAM
• Representing 13 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
• Representing 13 Consumers: VICTOR THOMAS METROFF

Statistics Year to Date:
9394 total lawsuits for 2021, including:

• 5036 FDCPA
• 4066 FCRA
• 1389 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 8649 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 236 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 169 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 150 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
• Representing 146 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
• Representing 134 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
• Representing 133 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 131 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 129 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 128 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
• Representing 124 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 5874 complaints filed against debt collectors from Sep 01, 2021 to Sep 30, 2021.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 812

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1542 I do not know (26%)
• 1468 Credit card debt (25%)
• 1368 Other debt (23%)
• 879 Medical debt (15%)
• 295 Auto debt (5%)
• 127 Payday loan debt (2%)
• 113 Mortgage debt (2%)
• 42 Federal student loan debt (1%)
• 40 Private student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 3021 Attempts to collect debt not owed (51%)
• 1489 Written notification about debt (25%)
• 466 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (8%)
• 424 False statements or representation (7%)
• 400 Communication tactics (7%)
• 74 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1456 Debt is not yours (25%)
• 1125 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (19%)
• 1047 Debt was result of identity theft (18%)
• 458 Debt was paid (8%)
• 339 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 789 Complaints: TX
• 652 Complaints: CA
• 599 Complaints: FL
• 462 Complaints: GA
• 306 Complaints: NY
• 273 Complaints: PA
• 239 Complaints: NC
• 195 Complaints: IL
• 192 Complaints: OH
• 172 Complaints: NJ

The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:

• 4713 Closed with explanation (80%)
• 524 In progress (9%)
• 501 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
• 115 Untimely response (2%)
• 21 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 5706 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 168 (3%) untimely responses.