Quick analysis: It’s official… FDCPA litigation is back in vogue.
Even though it dropped 7.7% from June, FDCPA litigation still grew it’s YTD lead over 2014 due to the shear volume of new cases being filed. At 6888 cases through the end of July compared to 5862 for the same period last year, not only is it up 17.5% over 2014, but it surpassed 2014’s raw number by more than 1000. If that doesn’t signal a strong comeback barely halfway through the year, I’m not sure what would.
In other news, FCRA gained both over last month and YTD by 2.7% and 26.8% respectively, continuing it’s strong growth, albeit weakly for the month of July. And TCPA continues its 2015 whimper, up nominally over June by .4%, but still down for the YTD by 1.4%.
CFPB complaints against debt collectors are about normal, down a little from last month but with a steady trickle of new data coming out it will probably be even. CFPB complaints are up an anemic 1.1% YTD.
Fun Facts: ∙
– For July 2015, about 35% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes.
∙ About 892 different companies were sued, and 825 different debt collectors were complained about to the CFPB.
∙ Class actions were relatively high, with 13.5% for FDCPA, 15.9% for TCPA and 10.4% for FCRA.
∙ The Illinois Northern District Court of Chicago had the most litigation filed in it, with 93 lawsuits invoking consumer statutes. California had the most CFPB complaints against debt collectors, with 473.
∙ Attorney Craig Thor Kimmel represented the most consumers for the month with 34, but Craig B. Sanders has represented the most year to date, with 177
| Comparisons: | Current Period: | Previous Period: | Previous Year Comp: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 01, 2015 Jul 31, 2015 |
Jun 01, 2015 Jun 30, 2015 |
Jul 01, 2014 Jul 31, 2014 |
|||
| CFPB Complaints | 3443 | 3518 | -2.1% | 3510 | -1.9% |
| FDCPA lawsuits | 1050 | 1137 | -7.7% | 842 | 24.7% |
| FCRA lawsuits | 308 | 300 | 2.7% | 208 | 48.1% |
| TCPA lawsuits | 252 | 251 | 0.4% | 206 | 22.3% |
| YTD CFPB Complaints | 24367 | 24092 | 1.1% | ||
| YTD FDCPA lawsuits | 6888 | 5862 | 17.5% | ||
| YTD FCRA lawsuits | 1828 | 1442 | 26.8% | ||
| YTD TCPA lawsuits | 1573 | 1595 | -1.4% | ||
Complaint Statistics:
3443 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1351 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2015 to Jul 31, 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:
- 3443 CFPB Complaints
- 1050 FDCPA, 142 Class Action (13.5%)
- 252 TCPA, 40 Class Action (15.9%)
- 308 FCRA, 32 Class Action (10.4%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1351 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 472, or (35%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1883 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 177 different US District Court branches.
- About 892 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 93 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 72 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 67 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 37 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
- 33 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 33 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 32 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 32 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
- 31 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 29 Lawsuits: Arizona District Court – Phoenix
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 34 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
- Representing 27 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
- Representing 25 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 24 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: BRIAN KEITH KORTE
- Representing 21 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 21 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 20 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
- Representing 19 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
Statistics Year to Date:
8613 total lawsuits for 2015, including:
- 6888 FDCPA
- 1828 FCRA
- 1573 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 8137 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 177 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 144 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 141 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 133 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
- Representing 114 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
- Representing 113 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
- Representing 108 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
- Representing 106 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 96 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
- Representing 96 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 3443 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2015 to Jul 31, 2015.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 825
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1062 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (31%)
- 739 Credit card (21%)
- 713 Unknown (21%)
- 499 Medical (14%)
- 160 Payday loan (5%)
- 97 Mortgage (3%)
- 70 Auto (2%)
- 60 Non-federal student loan (2%)
- 43 Federal student loan (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1521 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (44%)
- 609 Disclosure verification of debt (18%)
- 599 Communication tactics (17%)
- 260 False statements or representation (8%)
- 238 Taking/threatening an illegal action (7%)
- 216 Improper contact or sharing of info (6%)
The top five subissues were:
- 922 Debt is not mine (27%)
- 425 Debt was paid (12%)
- 405 Not given enough info to verify debt (12%)
- 373 Frequent or repeated calls (11%)
- 201 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 473 Complaints: CA
- 334 Complaints: FL
- 322 Complaints: TX
- 173 Complaints: NY
- 155 Complaints: GA
- 139 Complaints: IL
- 123 Complaints: PA
- 115 Complaints: OH
- 114 Complaints: NJ
- 112 Complaints: VA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3443 (100%)
This includes 3207 (93%) timely responses to complaints, and 236 (7%) untimely responses.
Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 366 (11%) of them, and 3077 (89%) were N\A.
The top five days for complaints were:
- 207 Complaints: Thu, 07/16/2015
- 185 Complaints: Wed, 07/08/2015
- 174 Complaints: Mon, 07/06/2015
- 172 Complaints: Wed, 07/15/2015
- 164 Complaints: Thu, 07/09/2015