Quick analysis: Happy Thanksgiving!
This week we are thankful for a report that shows CFPB complaints (-3.7%) down from the previous month for a third month in a row, though we are less thankful to see TCPA (+3.6%), FDCPA (+14.7%) and FCRA (+20.2%) lawsuits all up over the previous month.
In other news, putative class actions represented 9.5% of FDCPA, 48.3% of TCPA and 3.6% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 42%(!) of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Florida attorney Thomas John Patti took the top spot for representing the most consumers in October (34) while Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry is the most active consumer attorney of the year with 259 consumers represented so far in 2021.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 01, 2021 Oct 31, 2021 |
Sep 01, 2021 Sep 30, 2021 |
Oct 01, 2020 Oct 31, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2021 Oct 31, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2020 Oct 31, 2020 |
|||||
| CFPB | 5670 | 5889 | -3.7% | 4940 | 14.8% | 59652 | 44584 | 33.8% | |
| FDCPA | 609 | 531 | 14.7% | 547 | 11.3% | 5647 | 5945 | -5.0% | |
| FCRA | 471 | 392 | 20.2% | 509 | -7.5% | 4537 | 4394 | 3.3% | |
| TCPA | 116 | 112 | 3.6% | 177 | -34.5% | 1505 | 2921 | -48.5% | |
Complaint Statistics:
5670 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1022 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Oct 01, 2021 to Oct 31, 2021.
- 5670 CFPB Complaints
- 609 FDCPA, 58 Class Action (9.5%)
- 116 TCPA, 56 Class Action (48.3%)
- 471 FCRA, 9 Class Action (1.9%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1022 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 428, or (42%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 4167 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 154 different US District Court branches.
- About 618 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 67 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 48 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 39 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 39 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 35 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
- 34 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 34 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
- 32 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 29 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 27 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 34 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 29 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 28 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 23 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 21 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 19 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 19 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 15 Consumers: JIBRAEL S HINDI
- Representing 12 Consumers: JUSTIN ZEIG
- Representing 12 Consumers: JENNA DAKROUB
Statistics Year to Date:
10448 total lawsuits for 2021, including:
- 5647 FDCPA
- 4537 FCRA
- 1505 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 9527 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 259 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 180 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 179 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 171 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 162 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 156 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 150 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 142 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 136 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 134 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
——————————————————————————————————-
CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 5670 complaints filed against debt collectors from Oct 01, 2021 to Oct 31, 2021.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 833
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1593 I do not know (28%)
- 1329 Credit card debt (23%)
- 1307 Other debt (23%)
- 809 Medical debt (14%)
- 334 Auto debt (6%)
- 110 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 93 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 55 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 40 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 3271 Attempts to collect debt not owed (58%)
- 1241 Written notification about debt (22%)
- 391 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 375 False statements or representation (7%)
- 328 Communication tactics (6%)
- 64 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1477 Debt is not yours (26%)
- 1294 Debt was result of identity theft (23%)
- 981 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (17%)
- 423 Debt was paid (7%)
- 288 Attempted to collect wrong amount (5%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 668 Complaints: FL
- 637 Complaints: TX
- 583 Complaints: CA
- 447 Complaints: GA
- 313 Complaints: OH
- 274 Complaints: NY
- 240 Complaints: PA
- 184 Complaints: TN
- 182 Complaints: NC
- 179 Complaints: IL
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 4551 Closed with explanation (80%)
- 555 In progress (10%)
- 473 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 82 Untimely response (1%)
- 9 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 5530 (98%) timely responses to complaints, and 140 (2%) untimely responses.