Blog/ Litigation Stats

Quick analysis: Everything is broken. For the first time since Sept 2011, consumer litigation under all of the big three statutes (FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA) are up over the previous month AND up year-to-date. For the month, FDCPA is up +5.4%, TCPA is up +29.8% and FCRA is up +15.1%.

This year has been emblematic of an environment where litigation continues to evolve in lurches, keeping us guessing about where it is really headed.

2015 Pattern is set: FDCPA

With ten months of 2015 behind us, however, the patterns (if not the numbers) seem pretty well set for the year. For the first time in several years, overall consumer litigation is up dramatically.

This is thanks in no small part to FDCPA suits unexpectedly catching fire this year, up more than 1200 suits (+14.5%) over this time in 2014. For context, FDCPA was down compared to the previous year at this point in 2014 by -5.5%, in 2013 by -7.6% and in 2012 by -6.9%. The last time litigation under FDCPA’s grew, in 2011, there was a gain over 2010 of +12.2% at this point in the year.

FCRA

FCRA is doing its part as well, up nearly 800 suits which works out to a dramatic +39% increase over this time last year. It has been up at this point in each of the past four years, +7.5% in 2014, +.5% in 2013, +13.8% in 2012 and +41.8% in 2011. The last time it was down was in 2010, -5.0% at this point in time over the previous year.

TCPA

One statute we cannot give much credit to for the big increase is TCPA. In fact, for much of the year it looked like TCPA – after several years of strong growth – would actually decline. TCPA’s YTD numbers have recovered due to the combination of a strong October and a weak few months at the end of 2014. Now up almost 200 suits (+8.7%) over this time last year, TCPA seems to have avoided the likelihood of a decline.

For context, TCPA was up compared the previous year at this point in 2014 by +45.9%, in 2013 by +69.4%, in 2012 by +55.3%, in 2011 by +116.2% and in 2010 – the first year we have comprehensive numbers – it grew +618.9%. So this year’s +8.7% seems pretty anemic by comparison.

YTD Comparisons

If you add up all of the instances of litigation filed under the big three consumer statutes over the last five years, you’ll see how consistent the numbers have been (until now). At this point in each of the last several years, the total number of FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA allegations in litigation were in the mid-12,000’s (2011 had 12,574; 2012 had 12,408; 2013 had 12,304 and 2014 had 12,653). This year, we are more than 2200 suits above the highest prior year with 14,857.

CFPB

CFPB complaints against debt collectors plummeted this month, dropping a whopping 19.9% in October. That brings us to a point where we are only 1.7% above last year’s complaint figure. As always, expect this number to go up a few points in the coming weeks as new complaints trickle into the public record, but even so this message seems clear: Barring significant changes in the process, CFPB complaints against debt collectors have leveled out.

Fun Facts: 

• For October 2015, about 38% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes.
• About 819 different companies were sued, and 703 different debt collectors were complained about to the CFPB.
• Class actions were high across the board, with 19.1% for FDCPA, 26.1% for TCPA and a low 17.3% for FCRA.
• The Illinois Northern District Court in Chicago once again had the most litigation filed in it, with 73 consumers represented in litigation there. California had the most CFPB complaints against debt collectors, with 355.
• Attorneys Jeffrey Hyslip and David Menditto with law firm Hyslip & Taylor represented the most consumers for the month with 46, and attorney Craig Sanders has represented the most year to date, with 252

 

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Oct 01, 2015 Oct 31, 2015	Sep 01, 2015 Sep 30, 2015		Oct 01, 2014 Oct 31, 2014
CFPB Complaints	2535	3166	-19.9%	3233	-21.6%
FDCPA lawsuits	918	871	5.4%	964	-4.8%
FCRA lawsuits	382	332	15.1%	241	58.5%
TCPA lawsuits	314	242	29.8%	192	63.5%
YTD CFPB Complaints	34088			33512	1.7%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	9629			8410	14.5%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	2828			2035	39.0%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	2400			2208	8.7%

 

Complaint Statistics:

2535 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1313 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Oct 01, 2015 to Oct 31, 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 2535 CFPB Complaints
• 918 FDCPA, 175 Class Action (19.1%)
• 314 TCPA, 82 Class Action (26.1%)
• 382 FCRA, 66 Class Action (17.3%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1313 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 494, or (38%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1914 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 149 different US District Court branches.
• About 819 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 73 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 64 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 52 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 48 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 43 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 42 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 40 Lawsuits: Arizona District Court – Phoenix
• 33 Lawsuits: California Northern District Court – San Jose
• 31 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
• 31 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 46 Consumers: DAVID M MENDITTO
• Representing 46 Consumers: JEFFREY HYSLIP
• Representing 27 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 27 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 27 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
• Representing 20 Consumers: DENISE L MORRIS
• Representing 20 Consumers: ELLIOT WAYNE GALE
• Representing 19 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 19 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 18 Consumers: JAMES O LATTURNER

Statistics Year to Date:

12223 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 9629 FDCPA
• 2828 FCRA
• 2400 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 11488 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 252 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 199 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 172 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
• Representing 167 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 165 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 164 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 162 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 157 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 149 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
• Representing 148 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 2535 complaints filed against debt collectors from Oct 01, 2015 to Oct 31, 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 703

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 761 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (30%)
• 519 Credit card (20%)
• 494 Unknown (19%)
• 386 Medical (15%)
• 122 Payday loan (5%)
• 89 Mortgage (4%)
• 70 Non-federal student loan (3%)
• 56 Auto (2%)
• 38 Federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1125 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (44%)
• 475 Disclosure verification of debt (19%)
• 416 Communication tactics (16%)
• 197 False statements or representation (8%)
• 169 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)
• 153 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6%)

The top five subissues were:

• 698 Debt is not mine (28%)
• 334 Not given enough info to verify debt (13%)
• 294 Debt was paid (12%)
• 242 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 142 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 355 Complaints: CA
• 294 Complaints: TX
• 230 Complaints: FL
• 157 Complaints: NY
• 114 Complaints: GA
• 107 Complaints: NJ
• 98 Complaints: PA
• 92 Complaints: OH
• 86 Complaints: IL
• 78 Complaints: MD

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

• 2535 (100%)

This includes 2368 (93%) timely responses to complaints, and 167 (7%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 245 (10%) of them, and 2290 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 148 Complaints: Wed, 10/14/2015
• 145 Complaints: Thu, 10/22/2015
• 141 Complaints: Thu, 10/01/2015
• 139 Complaints: Thu, 10/15/2015
• 131 Complaints: Wed, 10/07/2015

 

Quick analysis: September was a mixed bag in consumer litigation and complaints.

On the one hand, FDCPA and TCPA lawsuits were down a bit from their numbers in August, 6.5% and 5.5% respectively. On the other hand, FCRA litigation was up quite a bit, 8.9% over its number in September. Overall, litigation rose in September (1272 consumers filed suit last month over August’s 1222 consumers).

Even with FDCPA and TCPA down in the monthly horse race, everything is still tracking up for the year, with FDCPA and FCRA still very strong ahead of 2014 (17% and 36.3% respectively), and TCPA finally (finally!) starting to widen its YTD lead over last year with a still-anemic 3.5% increase.

Keep in mind, the TCPA bar chart has been the most dramatic over the last several years (see below graphic). It has all but flatlined so far this year, all the more remarkable because of case law and regulatory declarations that one would have expected to delight the consumer bar. There have been predictions of TCPA’s resurgence later this year… at this point it is looking like it we will run out of year before any significant movement happens in TCPA litigation growth again.

CFPB complaints against debt collectors also are looking down, a whopping 16.3% in September. That brings it to one of its lowest numbers in recent memory, just barely cracking 3000 complaints (3025, for the record). Expect this number to go up by 5-10% in the coming weeks as new complaints trickle into the public record, but even so that makes for the lowest month this year unless a large batch pops up unexpectedly.

Fun Facts: ∙

• For September 2015, about 32% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes.
• About 822 different companies were sued, and 765 different debt collectors were complained about to the CFPB.
• Class actions were mixed, with a big 16.2% for FDCPA, a huge 28.1% for TCPA and a low 8.7% for FCRA.
• The Illinois Northern District Court in Chicago had the most litigation filed in it, with 71 consumers represented in litigation there. California had the most CFPB complaints against debt collectors, with 415.
• Attorney Craig B. Sanders represented the most consumers for the month with 57, and he also has represented the most year to date, with 250(!)

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Sep 01, 2015 Sep 30, 2015	Aug 01, 2015 Aug 31, 2015		Sep 01, 2014 Sep 30, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3025	3616	-16.3%	2930	3.2%
FDCPA lawsuits	870	930	-6.5%	818	6.4%
FCRA lawsuits	332	305	8.9%	188	76.6%
TCPA lawsuits	242	256	-5.5%	212	14.2%
YTD CFPB Complaints	31403			30279	3.7%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	8710			7446	17.0%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	2446			1794	36.3%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	2086			2016	3.5%

 

Complaint Statistics:

3025 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1272 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Sep 01, 2015 to Sep 30, 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3025 CFPB Complaints
• 870 FDCPA, 141 Class Action (16.2%)
• 242 TCPA, 68 Class Action (28.1%)
• 332 FCRA, 29 Class Action (8.7%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1272 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 409, or (32%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1533 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 159 different US District Court branches.
• About 822 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 71 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 54 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 51 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 50 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 49 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 48 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 42 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 35 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 30 Lawsuits: California Northern District Court – San Jose
• 29 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 57 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 47 Consumers: DAVID M MENDITTO
• Representing 46 Consumers: JEFFREY HYSLIP
• Representing 36 Consumers: PABLO OROZCO
• Representing 36 Consumers: ROLAND K TELLIS
• Representing 27 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 24 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 23 Consumers: JAMES O LATTURNER
• Representing 22 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 22 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN

Statistics Year to Date:

10995 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 8710 FDCPA
• 2446 FCRA
• 2086 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 10363 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 250 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 180 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 160 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 159 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
• Representing 159 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 138 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 138 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 137 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 135 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 122 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN

——————————————————————————————————-

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3025 complaints filed against debt collectors from Sep 01, 2015 to Sep 30, 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 765

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 883 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (29%)
• 690 Credit card (23%)
• 603 Unknown (20%)
• 449 Medical (15%)
• 154 Payday loan (5%)
• 87 Mortgage (3%)
• 70 Non-federal student loan (2%)
• 66 Auto (2%)
• 23 Federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1248 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (41%)
• 586 Disclosure verification of debt (19%)
• 485 Communication tactics (16%)
• 282 False statements or representation (9%)
• 213 Taking/threatening an illegal action (7%)
• 211 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)

The top five subissues were:

• 772 Debt is not mine (26%)
• 382 Not given enough info to verify debt (13%)
• 311 Debt was paid (10%)
• 299 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 209 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 415 Complaints: CA
• 299 Complaints: TX
• 295 Complaints: FL
• 159 Complaints: NY
• 124 Complaints: GA
• 116 Complaints: IL
• 115 Complaints: PA
• 94 Complaints: VA
• 88 Complaints: AZ
• 87 Complaints: OH

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

• 3025 (100%)

This includes 2822 (93%) timely responses to complaints, and 203 (7%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 294 (10%) of them, and 2731 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 181 Complaints: Wed, 09/23/2015
• 174 Complaints: Thu, 09/10/2015
• 154 Complaints: Thu, 09/24/2015
• 152 Complaints: Mon, 09/14/2015
• 145 Complaints: Fri, 09/11/2015

 

Quick analysis: Sort of like the stock market, consumer litigation is going through some wild swings this year. Down a not-insignificant 12.6% from July (after dropping 7.5% from June before that), FDCPA litigation is still WAY ahead of this time last year (by a whopping 18.1%). FCRA is also down a bit this month (2.3%) while being way ahead YTD (by 32.3%).

TCPA… remember TCPA? You know, the one that hogs all the news these days? TCPA is barely limping along with exactly *no* movement in last month’s numbers from the month before (I think that is actually the first time I have ever seen that happen…). However it has managed to eke out a minor increase in the YTD race, changing sides from being 1% down YTD in July to 1.7% up YTD in August.

CFPB complaints took a tumble last month, dropping 10% from the month before. However, most of that movement appears to be the result of a large CFPB data drop after we ran the stats last time around. So, nothing much to see here. Move along. CFPB numbers are riding just above break even YTD over 2014, with a 3% increase. Once all the cases trickle in, that will likely be bumped up a few points.

Fun Facts: ∙

– For August 2015, about 34% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes.
– About 805 different companies were sued, and 834 different debt collectors were complained about to the CFPB.
– Class actions were mixed, with a huge 18.1% for FDCPA, an average 13.7% for TCPA and a ho-hum 10.3% for FCRA.
– The Pennsylvania Eastern District Court in Philadelphia had the most litigation filed in it, with 58 lawsuits invoking consumer statutes. California had the most CFPB complaints against debt collectors, with 470.
– Attorneys David H Krieger and Craig Thor Kimmel tied for representing the most consumers for the month with 26, but Craig B. Sanders has still represented the most year to date, with 193

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Aug 01, 2015 Aug 31, 2015	Jul 01, 2015 Jul 31, 2015		Aug 01, 2014 Aug 31, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3432	3812	-10.0%	3257	5.4%
FDCPA lawsuits	925	1058	-12.6%	766	20.8%
FCRA lawsuits	300	307	-2.3%	164	82.9%
TCPA lawsuits	256	256	0.0%	209	22.5%
YTD CFPB Complaints	28176			27349	3.0%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	7826			6628	18.1%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	2125			1606	32.3%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	1835			1804	1.7%

 

Complaint Statistics:

3432 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1220 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Aug 01, 2015 to Aug 31, 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3432 CFPB Complaints
• 925 FDCPA, 167 Class Action (18.1%)
• 256 TCPA, 35 Class Action (13.7%)
• 300 FCRA, 31 Class Action (10.3%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1220 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 414, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 8293 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 166 different US District Court branches.
• About 805 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 58 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 52 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 50 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 40 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 34 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 31 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Trenton
• 31 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 30 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 29 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 28 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 26 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 26 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
• Representing 22 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 20 Consumers: CHARLES LOY RICHARDSON
• Representing 20 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 20 Consumers: CHARLES ROBERT BURTON
• Representing 20 Consumers: GARY L RICHARDSON
• Representing 20 Consumers: JASON CHARLES MESSENGER
• Representing 20 Consumers: YITZCHAK ZELMAN
• Representing 20 Consumers: KEVIN DUANE ADAMS

Statistics Year to Date:

9815 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 7826 FDCPA
• 2125 FCRA
• 1835 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 9229 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 193 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 163 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 150 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 148 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 140 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
• Representing 124 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 121 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 115 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 114 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 104 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE

——————————————————————————————————-

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3432 complaints filed against debt collectors from Aug 01, 2015 to Aug 31, 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 834

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1065 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (31%)
• 746 Unknown (22%)
• 606 Credit card (18%)
• 577 Medical (17%)
• 145 Payday loan (4%)
• 105 Mortgage (3%)
• 84 Auto (2%)
• 62 Non-federal student loan (2%)
• 42 Federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1578 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (46%)
• 628 Disclosure verification of debt (18%)
• 531 Communication tactics (15%)
• 262 False statements or representation (8%)
• 225 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)
• 208 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6%)

The top five subissues were:

• 962 Debt is not mine (28%)
• 423 Not given enough info to verify debt (12%)
• 412 Debt was paid (12%)
• 349 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 192 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 470 Complaints: CA
• 381 Complaints: TX
• 329 Complaints: FL
• 183 Complaints: NY
• 159 Complaints: GA
• 119 Complaints: OH
• 117 Complaints: NC
• 117 Complaints: NJ
• 104 Complaints: IL
• 97 Complaints: AZ

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

• 3432 (100%)

This includes 3160 (92%) timely responses to complaints, and 272 (8%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 347 (10%) of them, and 3085 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 189 Complaints: Wed, 08/05/2015
• 182 Complaints: Thu, 08/06/2015
• 166 Complaints: Thu, 08/20/2015
• 165 Complaints: Mon, 08/03/2015
• 162 Complaints: Tue, 08/18/2015

 

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

——————————————————————————————————-

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

 

Quick analysis: The summer heat must be rekindling those warm old memories of litigiousness, because June saw uncharacteristically strong consumer litigation activity across all three primary statutes: FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA. All three had a big month, with double-digit increases over their performance in May.

Year to date FDCPA suits are roaring back from a four-year lull, with growth not seen since 2011. It is up 16% over this time last year, and shows no imminent signs of slowing down.

FCRA is up 22.7% over this time last year, which itself was a record year.

TCPA is still down over last year (continuing a trend for TCPA in 2015), but by a much smaller margin than last month. It cut the YTD decline almost in half from 9.2% to 5.1% due to a very strong June (up 64.9% over May). If it keeps this momentum, it will surely come out ahead for the year again in July or August.

CFPB complaints against debt collectors are also up YTD over 2014, but by the slimmest of margins – .5%.

Interestingly, CFPB complaints are up significantly over last month, which is not inherently unusual, but it is unusual to see it this early. It often takes CFPB complaints another few weeks of trickling out before they overtake the previous month.

Fun Facts:
∙ For June 2015, about 36% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes.
∙ About 817 different companies were sued.
∙ Class actions were relatively high, with 12.9% for FDCPA, 14.1% for TCPA and 11.1% for FCRA.
∙ The Illinois Northern District Court of Chicago had the most litigation filed in it, with 91 lawsuits invoking consumer statutes.
∙ Attorney Craig B. Sanders represented the most consumers for the month – 59.

Complaint Statistics:

3359 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1326 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jun 01, 2015 to Jun 30, 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3359 CFPB Complaints
• 1129 FDCPA, 146 Class Action (12.9%)
• 249 TCPA, 35 Class Action (14.1%)
• 298 FCRA, 33 Class Action (11.1%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1326 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 471, or (36%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1720 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 159 different US District Court branches.
• About 817 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 91 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 64 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 54 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 52 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 45 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 38 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 37 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 37 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 29 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 27 Lawsuits: Arizona District Court – Phoenix

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 59 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 30 Consumers: CRAIG THOR KIMMEL
• Representing 28 Consumers: MEGAN A KERRIGAN
• Representing 27 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 26 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 22 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 19 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 18 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 17 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI
• Representing 17 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS

Statistics Year to Date:
7261 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 5823 FDCPA
• 1514 FCRA
• 1318 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 6917 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 152 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 119 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 118 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 106 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 93 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 92 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 91 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 91 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 90 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 87 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI

——————————————————————————————————-
CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3359 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jun 01, 2015 to Jun 30, 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 820

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1002 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (30%)
• 746 Unknown (22%)
• 672 Credit card (20%)
• 524 Medical (16%)
• 153 Payday loan (5%)
• 83 Mortgage (2%)
• 81 Auto (2%)
• 51 Federal student loan (2%)
• 47 Non-federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1379 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (41%)
• 666 Disclosure verification of debt (20%)
• 548 Communication tactics (16%)
• 280 False statements or representation (8%)
• 253 Improper contact or sharing of info (8%)
• 233 Taking/threatening an illegal action (7%)

The top five subissues were:

• 887 Debt is not mine (26%)
• 462 Not given enough info to verify debt (14%)
• 350 Debt was paid (10%)
• 340 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 225 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 461 Complaints: CA
• 376 Complaints: TX
• 357 Complaints: FL
• 214 Complaints: NY
• 141 Complaints: IL
• 130 Complaints: GA
• 110 Complaints: PA
• 108 Complaints: VA
• 102 Complaints: OH
• 100 Complaints: NJ

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

• 1989 (59%)
• 902 Closed with explanation (27%)
• 213 Closed with non-monetary relief (6%)
• 136 In progress (4%)
• 70 Closed (2%)
• 39 Untimely response (1%)
• 10 Closed with monetary relief (%)

This includes 3103 (92%) timely responses to complaints, and 256 (8%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 522 (16%) of them, and 2837 (84%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 175 Complaints: Tue, 06/16/2015
• 172 Complaints: Tue, 06/09/2015
• 169 Complaints: Wed, 06/10/2015
• 164 Complaints: Wed, 06/24/2015
• 159 Complaints: Thu, 06/11/2015

Quick analysis: Consumer litigation is definitely shaking things up this year. And TCPA is having a really bad year.

All year the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has alternated between lagging behind last year’s numbers and plummeting from them. It has just not been able to catch up to the explosive growth from 2014, and now in May 2015, it is standing at a total of 1067 cases for the year to date, down nearly 10% from 1175 at the same point last year.

So where did that 10% go? Let’s take a look at Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) litigation which – against all odds – is up nearly 12% over last year with 4683 cases over 2014’s 4192 cases at this point. Other than a slight bump in 2013 (which disappeared in subsequent months), FDCPA has been on a downward trend since 2011 (until now, that is…).

To round things out, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) litigation is growing slowly but steadily over last year’s record numbers. With 1212 suits filed through the end of May, it is up nearly 15% over 2014’s 1056 at this point.

Here is a chart that shows the progression of each of the three statutes over the last five years, for Jan 1 – May 31.

On Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaints, the number appears to be down a bit from the previous month, but up a bit from this time last year. We usually see around a 2% bump in CFPB complaints in the weeks ahead as the rest of them make their way through the system and become public.

For May 2015, about 37% of all consumer litigation plaintiffs had sued at least once before under consumer litigation statutes. Class actions were relatively high, with 15.9% for FDCPA, 10% for TCPA and 16.4% for FCRA.

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	May 01 – 31, 2015	Apr 01 – 30, 2015		May 01 – 31, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3279	3392	-3.3%	3210	2.1%
FDCPA lawsuits	917	1037	-11.6%	821	11.7%
FCRA lawsuits	238	254	-6.3%	218	9.2%
TCPA lawsuits	160	271	-41.0%	226	-29.2%
YTD CFPB Complaints	17317			17171	0.9%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	4683			4192	11.7%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	1212			1056	14.8%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	1067			1175	-9.2%

 

Complaint Statistics:

3279 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1091 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in May 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3279 CFPB Complaints
• 917 FDCPA, 146 Class Action (15.9%)
• 160 TCPA, 16 Class Action (10.0%)
• 238 FCRA, 39 Class Action (16.4%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1091 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 404, or (37%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2196 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 136 different US District Court branches.
• About 735 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 75 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 56 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 55 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 51 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 48 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 41 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 39 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 39 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 31 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Trenton
• 29 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 57 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 33 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 26 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 22 Consumers: ARI HILLEL MARCUS
• Representing 22 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 21 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 19 Consumers: MARK T LAVERY
• Representing 17 Consumers: DANNY HOREN
• Representing 17 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 17 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER

Statistics Year to Date:

5931 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 4683 FDCPA
• 1212 FCRA
• 1067 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 5720 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 108 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 93 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 92 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 91 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 80 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 79 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 75 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 75 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 73 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 71 Consumers: ARI HILLEL MARCUS

——————————————————————————————————-

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3279 complaints filed against debt collectors in May 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 799

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1015 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (31%)
• 665 Unknown (20%)
• 617 Credit card (19%)
• 533 Medical (16%)
• 181 Payday loan (6%)
• 103 Mortgage (3%)
• 81 Auto (2%)
• 42 Non-federal student loan (1%)
• 42 Federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1377 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (42%)
• 644 Disclosure verification of debt (20%)
• 544 Communication tactics (17%)
• 272 False statements or representation (8%)
• 225 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)
• 217 Taking/threatening an illegal action (7%)

The top five subissues were:

• 842 Debt is not mine (26%)
• 427 Not given enough info to verify debt (13%)
• 415 Debt was paid (13%)
• 327 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 195 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 417 Complaints: CA
• 325 Complaints: TX
• 308 Complaints: FL
• 175 Complaints: NY
• 136 Complaints: GA
• 123 Complaints: IL
• 109 Complaints: OH
• 99 Complaints: VA
• 98 Complaints: PA
• 93 Complaints: NJ

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

• 2222 Closed with explanation (68%)
• 512 Closed with non-monetary relief (16%)
• 228 In progress (7%)
• 163 Untimely response (5%)
• 124 Closed (4%)
• 30 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 3032 (92%) timely responses to complaints, and 247 (8%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 327 (10%) of them, and 2952 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 209 Complaints: Tue, 05/19/2015
• 197 Complaints: Wed, 05/20/2015
• 171 Complaints: Tue, 05/12/2015
• 164 Complaints: Thu, 05/14/2015
• 158 Complaints: Wed, 05/27/2015

 

Quick analysis: It is really starting to look like FDCPA litigation is trending up again in 2015 (+10% over last month). One-third of the way into 2015, FDCPA is solidly up over the same point in time from 2014 (+12.5%) and 2012 (+1.5%). It is still below where it was in 2013 (-7%), a year that started strong then tapered down. It is too soon to predict if this year will be more like 2014/2012 or 2013, but it has definitely been a strong start for consumer litigation in 2015.

FCRA is also up quite a bit for the year (+16.6%) but down a bit from last month (-3.5%). TCPA suffered from a very weak January and February, but shows signs of a strong comeback the last couple of months (+23.9% over last month alone) and it is on the verge of overtaking its YTD position over 2014 (currently -1.7%) if the next month is solid.

Here is a Jan 1-April 30 breakdown for the last five years. 2011 was the last time FDCPA grew over the previous full year.

If 2015 ends up being the first year that FDCPA litigation grows since 2011 and the FCRA/TCPA explosions continue, we will likely look back on April as the month that everything became clear.

CFPB complaints are down a bit from March (-18.7%), but their fluctuations usually have more to do with the pace of their release rather than the actual complaint filing trends. If the numbers hold, April may singlehandedly undo the strong gains we had seen just a month ago. As it stands today, we have gone from a YTD 3.1% increase through the end of March, to a YTD 1% decrease when you factor in April. My money says that when all of the April complaints work their way through the filters, we will be back in net gain territory though.

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Apr 01 – 30, 2015	Mar 01 – 31, 2015		Apr 01 – 30, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3182	3915	-18.7%	3698	-14.0%
FDCPA lawsuits	1026	933	10.0%	914	12.3%
FCRA lawsuits	249	258	-3.5%	205	21.5%
TCPA lawsuits	270	218	23.9%	241	12.0%
YTD CFPB Complaints	13817			13961	-1.0%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	3750			3333	12.5%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	964			827	16.6%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	905			921	-1.7%

 

Complaint Statistics:

3182 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1322 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in Apr 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3182 CFPB Complaints
• 1026 FDCPA, 144 Class Action (14.0%)
• 270 TCPA, 50 Class Action (18.5%)
• 249 FCRA, 24 Class Action (9.6%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1322 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 440, or (33%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2615 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 157 different US District Court branches.
• About 1020 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 81 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 62 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 55 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 44 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 43 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 35 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 29 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 28 Lawsuits: Wisconsin Eastern District Court – Milwaukee
• 27 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 26 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Trenton

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 35 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 21 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 20 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 20 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 19 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI
• Representing 17 Consumers: SEYED ABBAS KAZEROUNIAN
• Representing 16 Consumers: JOHN THOMAS STEINKAMP
• Representing 16 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 16 Consumers: JOSHUA B SWIGART
• Representing 15 Consumers: ANGIE K ROBERTSON

Statistics Year to Date:

4821 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 3750 FDCPA
• 964 FCRA
• 905 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 4738 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 98 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 76 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 75 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 67 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 63 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 60 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 60 Consumers: JAMES O LATTURNER
• Representing 59 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 58 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI
• Representing 58 Consumers: CATHLEEN M COMBS

——————————————————————————————————-

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3182 complaints filed against debt collectors in Apr 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 787

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 974 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (31%)
• 700 Unknown (22%)
• 619 Credit card (19%)
• 431 Medical (14%)
• 168 Payday loan (5%)
• 90 Mortgage (3%)
• 74 Auto (2%)
• 70 Non-federal student loan (2%)
• 56 Federal student loan (2%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1355 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (43%)
• 587 Disclosure verification of debt (18%)
• 551 Communication tactics (17%)
• 268 False statements or representation (8%)
• 214 Taking/threatening an illegal action (7%)
• 207 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)

The top five subissues were:

• 858 Debt is not mine (27%)
• 368 Not given enough info to verify debt (12%)
• 336 Debt was paid (11%)
• 323 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 188 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 418 Complaints: CA
• 285 Complaints: TX
• 284 Complaints: FL
• 191 Complaints: NY
• 140 Complaints: GA
• 131 Complaints: PA
• 115 Complaints: VA
• 100 Complaints: MD
• 93 Complaints: WA
• 92 Complaints: NJ

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

• 2066 Closed with explanation (65%)
• 555 Closed with non-monetary relief (17%)
• 248 In progress (8%)
• 170 Untimely response (5%)
• 116 Closed (4%)
• 27 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 2947 (93%) timely responses to complaints, and 235 (7%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 302 (9%) of them, and 2880 (91%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 165 Complaints: Thu, 04/16/2015
• 162 Complaints: Tue, 04/21/2015
• 157 Complaints: Mon, 04/20/2015
• 152 Complaints: Tue, 04/14/2015
• 145 Complaints: Mon, 04/06/2015

 

Quick analysis: March litigation against debt collectors built on a growth trend from the previous month, with all three statutes increasing their month-over-month numbers (FDCPA +3.9%, TCPA +15.5% and FCRA +3.3%) and, except for TCPA, year-over-year (FDCPA +3.2%, TCPA -9.2% and FCRA +6.8%).

Year to date, FDCPA is up 11.9% and FCRA is up 13.8%. TCPA is still a bit down from this time last year, though the difference has narrowed quite a bit over the last month (down 7.4% YTD from 39.9% YTD the previous month) and it appears at this rate TCPA numbers will surge ahead of YTD comps in the next month or two.

Class actions were strong for all three statutes (FDCPA 18.7%, TCPA 11.6% and FCRA +13.8%). Repeat filers represented about 30% of all March litigation.

On to CFPB complaints against debt collectors. As of publication, 3865 complaints were filed against 911 different debt collectors in March. That is up 12.6% over February and 7.2% over the same period last year. These numbers will likely continue to edge up as more complaints go public.

Fun fact: We surpassed 10,000 CFPB complaints against debt collectors YTD on March 26, 2015, versus hitting that milestone on March 28 last year.

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Mar 01 – 31, 2015	Feb 01 – 28, 2015		Mar 01 – 31, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3865	3431	12.6%	3607	7.2%
FDCPA lawsuits	927	892	3.9%	898	3.2%
FCRA lawsuits	253	245	3.3%	237	6.8%
TCPA lawsuits	216	187	15.5%	238	-9.2%
YTD CFPB Complaints	10578			10263	3.1%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	2707			2419	11.9%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	708			622	13.8%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	630			680	-7.4%

Complaint Statistics:

3865 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1272 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in Mar 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3865 CFPB Complaints
• 927 FDCPA, 173 Class Action (18.7%)
• 216 TCPA, 25 Class Action (11.6%)
• 253 FCRA, 35 Class Action (13.8%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1272 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 378, or (30%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1476 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 168 different US District Court branches.
• About 1029 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 88 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 86 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 41 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 37 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 32 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 29 Lawsuits: Missouri Eastern District Court – St. Louis – Eastern Division
• 29 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
• 28 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 25 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 25 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 34 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 25 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 21 Consumers: RICHARD A VOYTAS JR
• Representing 19 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 19 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 18 Consumers: DANIEL JOHN MCGARRY
• Representing 18 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
• Representing 17 Consumers: DANNY HOREN
• Representing 16 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 16 Consumers: SHIREEN HORMOZDI

Statistics Year to Date:

3519 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 2707 FDCPA
• 708 FCRA
• 630 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 3509 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 94 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 71 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 59 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 56 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 52 Consumers: CATHLEEN M COMBS
• Representing 52 Consumers: JAMES O LATTURNER
• Representing 51 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 41 Consumers: DANNY HOREN
• Representing 39 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 39 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI

——————————————————————————————————-

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3865 complaints filed against debt collectors in Mar 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 911

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1188 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (31%)
• 894 Unknown (23%)
• 675 Credit card (17%)
• 495 Medical (13%)
• 244 Payday loan (6%)
• 113 Mortgage (3%)
• 105 Auto (3%)
• 81 Non-federal student loan (2%)
• 70 Federal student loan (2%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1704 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (44%)
• 713 Communication tactics (18%)
• 645 Disclosure verification of debt (17%)
• 335 False statements or representation (9%)
• 241 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6%)
• 227 Improper contact or sharing of info (6%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1086 Debt is not mine (28%)
• 440 Not given enough info to verify debt (11%)
• 428 Debt was paid (11%)
• 416 Frequent or repeated calls (11%)
• 264 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 506 Complaints: CA
• 369 Complaints: TX
• 361 Complaints: FL
• 215 Complaints: NY
• 190 Complaints: GA
• 150 Complaints: OH
• 133 Complaints: IL
• 130 Complaints: PA
• 122 Complaints: NJ
• 116 Complaints: MD

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

• 2566 Closed with explanation (66%)
• 670 Closed with non-monetary relief (17%)
• 236 In progress (6%)
• 203 Closed (5%)
• 157 Untimely response (4%)
• 33 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 3580 (93%) timely responses to complaints, and 285 (7%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 381 (10%) of them, and 3484 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 194 Complaints: Mon, 03/23/2015
• 192 Complaints: Tue, 03/24/2015
• 183 Complaints: Thu, 03/26/2015
• 180 Complaints: Mon, 03/02/2015
• 170 Complaints: Tue, 03/10/2015

Quick analysis: February litigation against debt collectors picked up a bit from January\’s across-the-board decline, but (surprisingly) TCPA is still lagging significantly from both last month (down 13.4%) and this time last year (down 46.1%).

Both FDCPA and FCRA have increased over last month (up 10.1% and 28.2%, respectively) and this time last year (up 5.9% and 22.7%, respectively).

One word of caution… the overall numbers are still pretty small and it is early in the year (with only two months of data), so it is premature to draw significant conclusions from what appears to be a positive trend in TCPA and negative trends in FDCPA and FCRA.

Class actions were robust for FDPA last month at 17.3% of all cases, and average for TCPA (8.1%) and FCRA (9.3%). Repeat filers represented about 31% of all February litigation.

On to CFPB complaints against debt collectors. As of publication, 3380 complaints were filed against 830 different debt collectors in February. That is up 3.1% over January , and will likely continue to edge up as more complaints go public.

Comparisons:	Current Period:	Previous Period:		Previous Year Comp:
	Feb 01 – 28, 2015	Jan 01 – 31, 2015		Feb 01 – 28, 2014
CFPB Complaints	3380	3278	3.1%	3369	0.3%
FDCPA lawsuits	842	765	10.1%	795	5.9%
FCRA lawsuits	227	177	28.2%	185	22.7%
TCPA lawsuits	123	142	-13.4%	228	-46.1%
YTD CFPB Complaints	6658			6649	0.1%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits	1607			1521	5.7%
YTD FCRA lawsuits	404			385	4.9%
YTD TCPA lawsuits	265			441	-39.9%

Complaint Statistics:

3380 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1045 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes in Feb 2015. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 3380 CFPB Complaints
• 842 FDCPA, 146 Class Action (17.3%)
• 123 TCPA, 10 Class Action (8.1%)
• 227 FCRA, 21 Class Action (9.3%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1045 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 329, or (31%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1285 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 151 different US District Court branches.
• About 719 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 82 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 57 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 54 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 36 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
• 34 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 33 Lawsuits: Missouri Eastern District Court – St. Louis – Eastern Division
• 28 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 27 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 26 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 23 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 27 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 21 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 20 Consumers: ANGIE K ROBERTSON
• Representing 16 Consumers: HASSAN ALI ZAVAREEI
• Representing 16 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
• Representing 15 Consumers: MARK D MAILMAN
• Representing 15 Consumers: DAVID MICHAEL MENDITTO
• Representing 15 Consumers: JEFFREY SCOTT HYSLIP
• Representing 15 Consumers: DANNY HOREN

Statistics Year to Date:
1926 total lawsuits for 2015, including:

• 1607 FDCPA
• 404 FCRA
• 265 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2015: 1938 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 55 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
• Representing 39 Consumers: DANIEL A EDELMAN
• Representing 37 Consumers: ADAM JON FISHBEIN
• Representing 35 Consumers: JAMES O LATTURNER
• Representing 35 Consumers: CATHLEEN M COMBS
• Representing 31 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
• Representing 31 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 31 Consumers: SHPETIM ADEMI
• Representing 30 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 29 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 3380 complaints filed against debt collectors in Feb 2015.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 830

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1026 Other (phone, health club, etc.) (30%)
• 780 Unknown (23%)
• 670 Credit card (20%)
• 479 Medical (14%)
• 179 Payday loan (5%)
• 73 Auto (2%)
• 69 Mortgage (2%)
• 54 Federal student loan (2%)
• 50 Non-federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1522 Cont’d attempts collect debt not owed (45%)
• 590 Disclosure verification of debt (17%)
• 562 Communication tactics (17%)
• 278 False statements or representation (8%)
• 252 Improper contact or sharing of info (7%)
• 176 Taking/threatening an illegal action (5%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1007 Debt is not mine (30%)
• 391 Debt was paid (12%)
• 370 Not given enough info to verify debt (11%)
• 330 Frequent or repeated calls (10%)
• 215 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 435 Complaints: CA
• 304 Complaints: FL
• 285 Complaints: TX
• 196 Complaints: NY
• 130 Complaints: OH
• 128 Complaints: IL
• 125 Complaints: NJ
• 125 Complaints: GA
• 111 Complaints: PA
• 95 Complaints: TN

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

• 2226 Closed with explanation (66%)
• 602 Closed with non-monetary relief (18%)
• 219 In progress (6%)
• 158 Closed (5%)
• 135 Untimely response (4%)
• 40 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 3123 (92%) timely responses to complaints, and 257 (8%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 325 (10%) of them, and 3055 (90%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

• 182 Complaints: Wed, 02/18/2015
• 178 Complaints: Wed, 02/25/2015
• 177 Complaints: Tue, 02/24/2015
• 174 Complaints: Thu, 02/19/2015
• 168 Complaints: Thu, 02/05/2015