Quick analysis: In February we are seeing some volatility in CFPB filings against debt collectors, with a fairly dramatic drop from 3121 in January (amended up about 5% from the 2975 complaints we were able to report last month) to 2513 in February. That is 19.5% lower. The three fewer days in February are not enough to explain the drop, though it is reasonable to expect that the final February total will rise a bit to further close the gap (but not enough to make this much less dramatic). This emulates a decrease in overall CFPB complaint filings across all categories last month with 9725 filed in February vs. 12,231 filed in January (a 25.7% drop).
In litigation, FDCPA lawsuits ticked up in February a bit over 10%, but is still down a considerable 21% over this time last year (keep in mind this is only two months of data…). FCRA is down a bit (2.6%, not particularly significant) and TCPA is up a bit (6.7%, also not particularly significant). Both FCRA and TCPA are up YTD though, 20% and 35% respectively.
Litigation Statistics:
2513 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1102 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in February 2014. Here is an approximate breakdown:
- 2513 CFPB Complaints
- 784 FDCPA
- 186 FCRA
- 222 TCPA
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1102 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 405, or (36.8%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1955 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 167 different US District Court branches.
- About 798 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 73 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 43 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 36 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 35 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
- 34 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
- 33 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
- 27 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
- 26 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 26 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 25 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 60 Consumers: Erikson M Davis
- Representing 54 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
- Representing 21 Consumers: David Michael Larson
- Representing 21 Consumers: Todd M Friedman
- Representing 20 Consumers: Mark D Mailman
- Representing 18 Consumers: John Thomas Steinkamp
- Representing 18 Consumers: Michael Anthony Eades
- Representing 14 Consumers: Adam Jon Fishbein
- Representing 14 Consumers: Nicholas J Bontrager
- Representing 13 Consumers: Bret Leon Lusskin
Statistics Year to Date: 1883 total lawsuits for 2014, including:
- 1493 FDCPA
- 377 FCRA
- 430 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 2007 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 109 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
- Representing 60 Consumers: Erikson M Davis
- Representing 48 Consumers: David Michael Larson
- Representing 32 Consumers: Michael Anthony Eades
- Representing 32 Consumers: John Thomas Steinkamp
- Representing 28 Consumers: Todd M Friedman
- Representing 27 Consumers: David J Philipps
- Representing 25 Consumers: Angie K Robertson
- Representing 24 Consumers: Matthew Jon Militzok
- Representing 24 Consumers: Bret Leon Lusskin
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 2513 complaints filed against debt collectors in February 2014.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 548
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 682 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (27.1%)
- 557 Credit card (22.2%)
- 541 Unknown (21.5%)
- 266 Medical (10.6%)
- 183 Payday loan (7.3%)
- 91 Mortgage (3.6%)
- 67 Non-federal student loan (2.7%)
- 65 Federal student loan (2.6%)
- 61 Auto (2.4%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1033 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (41.1%)
- 492 Communication tactics (19.6%)
- 406 Disclosure verification of debt (16.2%)
- 222 False statements or representation (8.8%)
- 206 Improper contact or sharing of info (8.2%)
- 154 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6.1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 678 Debt is not mine (27%)
- 311 Frequent or repeated calls (12.4%)
- 287 Not given enough info to verify debt (11.4%)
- 242 Debt was paid (9.6%)
- 176 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 354 Complaints: CA
- 242 Complaints: TX
- 220 Complaints: FL
- 144 Complaints: NY
- 103 Complaints: PA
- 100 Complaints: OH
- 94 Complaints: GA
- 88 Complaints: NJ
- 77 Complaints: VA
- 75 Complaints: IL
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 1679 Closed with explanation (66.8%)
- 441 Closed with non-monetary relief (17.5%)
- 261 In progress (10.4%)
- 69 Closed (2.7%)
- 37 Untimely response (1.5%)
- 26 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 2457 (97.8%) timely responses to complaints, and 56 (2.2%) untimely responses
Of the company responses, consumers accepted 2156 (85.8%) of them, and disputed 357 (14.2%) of them
The top five days for complaints were:
- 147 Complaints: Thu, 02/13/2014
- 142 Complaints: Thu, 02/06/2014
- 138 Complaints: Tue, 02/11/2014
- 134 Complaints: Wed, 02/19/2014
- 132 Complaints: Mon, 02/10/2014