Quick analysis: It’s Opposite Month!
May 2022 has defied every trendline in the consumer complaint and litigation spheres. TCPA and FDCPA lawsuits have been pretty consistently trending downward, while FCRA lawsuits and CFPB complaints have been trending upward. Not so this month. Turn it all around, you have TCPA (+6.8%) and FDCPA (+7.9%) both up over the previous month, and FCRA (-10.3%) and CFPB complaints (-25.3%) both down from the previous month. Having said that, one month of backwards numbers isn’t enough to significantly throw off the YTD trends, which still show FDCPA (-17.1%) and TCPA (-29%) down and FCRA (+7.0%) up. YTD CFPB complaints are in the negative, but that is almost certainly temporary.
In other news, putative class actions represented 10.2% of FDCPA, 55.2% of TCPA and 3.0% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 42% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry took the top spot for representing the most consumers in April (21) while Florida attorney Jibrael S Hindi has represented the most consumers for the year so far (206).
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 01, 2022 May 31, 2022 |
Apr 01, 2022 Apr 30, 2022 |
May 01, 2021 May 31, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2022 May 31, 2022 |
Jan 01, 2021 May 31, 2021 |
|||||
| CFPB | 4495 | 6014 | -25.3% | 5432 | -17.2% | 27210 | 28235 | -3.6% | |
| FDCPA | 410 | 380 | 7.9% | 615 | -33.3% | 2260 | 2725 | -17.1% | |
| FCRA | 463 | 516 | -10.3% | 428 | 8.2% | 2420 | 2262 | 7.0% | |
| TCPA | 125 | 117 | 6.8% | 112 | 11.6% | 602 | 848 | -29.0% | |
Complaint Statistics:
4495 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 891 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from May 01, 2022 to May 31, 2022.
- 4495 CFPB Complaints
- 410 FDCPA, 42 Class Action (10.2%)
- 125 TCPA, 69 Class Action (55.2%)
- 463 FCRA, 14 Class Action (3.0%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 891 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 374, or (42%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3820 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 147 different US District Court branches.
- About 600 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 57 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 54 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 46 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 33 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 32 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 27 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
- 25 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 24 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 23 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 21 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 21 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 18 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
- Representing 16 Consumers: MANUEL SANTIAGO HIRALDO
- Representing 15 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 15 Consumers: YAAKOV SAKS
- Representing 14 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
- Representing 14 Consumers: JOHN THOMAS STEINKAMP
- Representing 14 Consumers: MICHAEL KIND
- Representing 14 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 14 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
Statistics Year to Date:
4861 total lawsuits for 2022, including:
- 2260 FDCPA
- 2420 FCRA
- 602 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2022: 4462 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 206 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 181 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 122 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 122 Consumers: CRAIG CARLEY MARCHIANDO
- Representing 117 Consumers: LEONARD ANTHONY BENNETT
- Representing 110 Consumers: DREW DAVID SARRETT
- Representing 79 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
- Representing 74 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 60 Consumers: SYED HASEEB HUSSAIN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4495 complaints filed against debt collectors from May 01, 2022 to May 31, 2022.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 770
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1158 Other debt (26%)
- 1083 I do not know (24%)
- 1077 Credit card debt (24%)
- 731 Medical debt (16%)
- 213 Auto debt (5%)
- 99 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 72 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 32 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 30 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2353 Attempts to collect debt not owed (52%)
- 876 Written notification about debt (19%)
- 453 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 420 False statements or representation (9%)
- 313 Communication tactics (7%)
- 80 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1176 Debt is not yours (26%)
- 708 Debt was result of identity theft (16%)
- 564 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (13%)
- 390 Debt was paid (9%)
- 318 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 612 Complaints: FL
- 503 Complaints: TX
- 425 Complaints: GA
- 420 Complaints: CA
- 252 Complaints: NY
- 174 Complaints: IL
- 155 Complaints: PA
- 141 Complaints: VA
- 139 Complaints: SC
- 130 Complaints: NJ
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3474 Closed with explanation (77%)
- 560 In progress (12%)
- 379 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 46 Untimely response (1%)
- 36 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 4372 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 123 (3%) untimely responses.