Quick analysis: Well, 2013 is over. And, as expected, FDCPA litigation has decreased for the second year in a row, down 10% over 2012 (which itself was down 7% over 2011). Also expected, TCPA litigation exploded this year, up 69% over 2012. The one surprise in the year-end numbers is that FCRA litigation eked out a small increase (just 1%, but still) over 2012, after spending most of the year down from 2012.
Meanwhile, CFPB complaints against debt collectors seem to have settled into a 1200’ish monthly rate, after exploding out of the gate over the summer. (The best explanation we can come up with for that, by the way, is pent-up demand.)
Our bold prediction for 2014 (don’t hold us to it, though…) is that FDCPA litigation has probably come close to bottoming out and will likely stabilize in the 9k-10k/year area. That assumes a minimum of around 750 lawsuits/month on average, which seems to be where we are now.
Year-Over-Year Numbers
Statistics for December 2013:
1254 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1026 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in December 2013. Here is an approximate breakdown:
- 1254 CFPB Complaints
- 767 FDCPA
- 221 FCRA
- 173 TCPA
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1026 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 371, or (36.2%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1896 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 144 different US District Court branches.
- About 881 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 76 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 42 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 35 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 33 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – Foley Square
- 33 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
- 25 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 24 Lawsuits: Hawaii District Court – Honolulu
- 24 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
- 23 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 23 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 41 Consumers: Roger Y Dewa
- Representing 40 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
- Representing 22 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
- Representing 20 Consumers: Jody Berke Burton
- Representing 20 Consumers: David Michael Larson
- Representing 18 Consumers: N James Turner
- Representing 17 Consumers: Mary Elizabeth Philipps
- Representing 17 Consumers: David J Philipps
- Representing 17 Consumers: Angie K Robertson
- Representing 16 Consumers: Tammy L Hussin
Statistics Year to Date:
11962 total lawsuits for 2013, including:
- 10320 FDCPA
- 2276 FCRA
- 1862 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 12,601 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 369 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
- Representing 279 Consumers: David Michael Larson
- Representing 235 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
- Representing 225 Consumers: Daniel A Edelman
- Representing 210 Consumers: Jody Berke Burton
- Representing 204 Consumers: David J Philipps
- Representing 195 Consumers: Mary Elizabeth Philipps
- Representing 171 Consumers: Angie K Robertson
- Representing 171 Consumers: Gary D Nitzkin
- Representing 169 Consumers: Cathleen M Combs
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 1254 complaints filed against debt collectors in December 2013.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 383
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 357 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (28.5%)
- 275 Unknown (21.9%)
- 255 Credit card (20.3%)
- 156 Medical (12.4%)
- 63 Payday loan (5%)
- 42 Mortgage (3.3%)
- 39 Auto (3.1%)
- 36 Non-federal student loan (2.9%)
- 31 Federal student loan (2.5%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 534 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (42.6%)
- 246 Communication tactics (19.6%)
- 214 Disclosure verification of debt (17.1%)
- 97 Improper contact or sharing of info (7.7%)
- 85 False statements or representation (6.8%)
- 78 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6.2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 324 Debt is not mine (25.8%)
- 167 Frequent or repeated calls (13.3%)
- 143 Debt was paid (11.4%)
- 140 Not given enough info to verify debt (11.2%)
- 63 Right to dispute notice not received (5%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 142 Complaints: CA
- 119 Complaints: TX
- 105 Complaints: FL
- 100 Complaints: NY
- 54 Complaints: NJ
- 48 Complaints: PA
- 44 Complaints: GA
- 41 Complaints: IL
- 37 Complaints: VA
- 36 Complaints: MI
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 815 Closed with explanation (65%)
- 219 Closed with non-monetary relief (17.5%)
- 158 In progress (12.6%)
- 32 Closed (2.6%)
- 23 Closed with monetary relief (1.8%)
- 7 Untimely response (0.6%)
This includes 1246 (99.4%) timely responses to complaints, and 8 (0.6%) untimely responses
Of the company responses, consumers accepted 1106 (88.2%) of them, and disputed 148 (11.8%) of them
The top five days for complaints were:
- 78 Complaints: Tue, 12/10/2013
- 69 Complaints: Fri, 12/13/2013
- 69 Complaints: Mon, 12/02/2013
- 68 Complaints: Tue, 12/17/2013
- 66 Complaints: Wed, 12/11/2013