Quick analysis: Do you remember… when September was still unpredictable?
FDCPA filings in September had an almost 10% increase over those in August, while FCRA dipped by 26% and TCPA reversed a big August slump and grew by almost 14%. However, all statutes are still on track to fulfill destinies that were set early this year.
In other words, it was a chaotic month that barely had an impact on the overall filing trends. Welcome to our world.
One interesting little related observation… while monthly numbers have been all over the place, there is one set of numbers that have not once broken form this year: YTD trends. Every single month in 2016 has had FDCPA down from the same month in 2015, while every single month in 2016 has seen both TCPA and FCRA up over the same month in 2015.
Another interesting little observation… This happens to be the month that FDCPA filings have officially dipped to more than 1000 below this time in 2015, and that TCPA filings have officially surpassed 2015 filings by more than 1000.
Crazy, no? It is not hard to put together where all of those FDCPA lawsuits are going…
On to the stats:
| Comparisons: | Current Period: | Previous Period: | Previous Year Comp: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 01, 2016 Sep 30, 2016 |
Aug 01, 2016 Aug 31, 2016 |
Sep 01, 2015 Sep 30, 2015 |
|||
| CFPB Complaints | 3120 | 4221 | -26.1% | 3192 | -2.3% |
| FDCPA lawsuits | 927 | 848 | 9.3% | 923 | 0.4% |
| FCRA lawsuits | 283 | 383 | -26.1% | 352 | -19.6% |
| TCPA lawsuits | 449 | 395 | 13.7% | 318 | 41.2% |
| YTD CFPB Complaints | 29793 | 31564 | -5.6% | ||
| YTD FDCPA lawsuits | 8027 | 9093 | -11.7% | ||
| YTD FCRA lawsuits | 2930 | 2562 | 14.4% | ||
| YTD TCPA lawsuits | 3712 | 2648 | 40.2% | ||
Complaint Statistics:
3120 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1341 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Sep 01, 2016 to Sep 30, 2016. Here is an approximate breakdown:
- 3120 CFPB Complaints
- 927 FDCPA, 161 Class Action (17.4%)
- 449 TCPA, 119 Class Action (26.5%)
- 283 FCRA, 26 Class Action (9.2%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1341 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 541, or (40%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3671 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 168 different US District Court branches.
- About 986 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 117 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 70 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 64 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
- 48 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 45 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 39 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 35 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
- 33 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 32 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
- 30 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 54 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 34 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 33 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 33 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 32 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
- Representing 32 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 27 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
- Representing 23 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
Statistics Year to Date:
12125 total lawsuits for 2016, including:
- 8027 FDCPA
- 2930 FCRA
- 3712 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2016: 11154 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 351 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 289 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 229 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 227 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 219 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
- Representing 209 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
- Representing 198 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 194 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 193 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 191 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 3120 complaints filed against debt collectors from Sep 01, 2016 to Sep 30, 2016.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 734
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 998 Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.) (32%)
- 657 I do not know (21%)
- 533 Credit card (17%)
- 516 Medical (17%)
- 119 Mortgage (4%)
- 112 Payday loan (4%)
- 88 Auto (3%)
- 60 Non-federal student loan (2%)
- 37 Federal student loan (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1286 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (41%)
- 863 Disclosure verification of debt (28%)
- 374 Communication tactics (12%)
- 248 False statements or representation (8%)
- 182 Improper contact or sharing of info (6%)
- 167 Taking/threatening an illegal action (5%)
The top five subissues were:
- 710 Debt is not mine (23%)
- 634 Not given enough info to verify debt (20%)
- 377 Debt was paid (12%)
- 216 Frequent or repeated calls (7%)
- 201 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 371 Complaints: CA
- 365 Complaints: TX
- 307 Complaints: FL
- 191 Complaints: NY
- 181 Complaints: GA
- 115 Complaints: IL
- 103 Complaints: PA
- 102 Complaints: OH
- 100 Complaints: AZ
- 99 Complaints: NJ
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3120 (100%)
This includes 2883 (92%) timely responses to complaints, and 237 (8%) untimely responses.
Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 483 (15%) of them, and 2637 (85%) were N\A.
The top five days for complaints were:
- 160 Complaints: Thu, 09/29/2016
- 156 Complaints: Thu, 09/15/2016
- 156 Complaints: Thu, 09/22/2016
- 149 Complaints: Wed, 09/07/2016
- 141 Complaints: Mon, 09/12/2016