WebRecon Apr 2024 Stats: Almost Everything Up

Quick analysis: Almost Everything Up

In April, FDCPA (+12.7%) and FCRA (+12.7%) suits were up over March, and TCPA (+26.2%), FDCPA (+15.2%) and FCRA (+27.4%) suits were all up YTD. CFPB complaints were also up for the month (+2%) and the year (77.9%!). The only holdup from a complete sweep was April TCPA suits, which ticked down -2.9% from March.

In other news, putative class actions represented 5.9% of FDCPA, 68.1%(!) of TCPA and 7.4%(!) of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. TCPA class actions are still extraordinarily high, historically speaking. About 44% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Tampa attorney Octavio Gomez took the top spot again for representing the most consumers (34) in April and YTD (97). Technically, two other firms have higher plaintiff counts by bundling a whole bunch of plaintiffs into a couple of suits, but we’re not going to count that here.

Complaint Statistics:

12792 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 820 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Apr 01, 2024 to Apr 30, 2024.

• 12792 CFPB Complaints
• 355 FDCPA, 21 Class Action (5.9%)
• 135 TCPA, 92 Class Action (68.1%)
• 524 FCRA, 39 Class Action (7.4%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 820 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 359, or (44%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2580 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 141 different US District Court branches.
• About 570 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 61 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 46 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 33 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 33 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 32 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
• 24 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
• 21 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
• 19 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 19 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
• 18 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 34 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 20 Consumers: ELLIOT ELO
• Representing 13 Consumers: FRANK H KERNEY
• Representing 13 Consumers: MATTHEW FORSBERG
• Representing 13 Consumers: GLORIA CHI-KI LAM
• Representing 12 Consumers: YITZCHAK ZELMAN
• Representing 12 Consumers: JENNIFER GOMES SIMIL
• Representing 12 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 11 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 10 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON

Statistics Year to Date:
3504 total lawsuits for 2024, including:

• 1490 FDCPA
• 2198 FCRA
• 611 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2024: 3570 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 127 Consumers: HAROUT GREG KEOSIAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: ZAREH JACK KOUSIAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: MELKON RAFI MELKONIAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: EILEEN KEUSSEYAN
• Representing 100 Consumers: ZHENYA A BAGDASARYAN
• Representing 100 Consumers: NELLY ISPIRYAN
• Representing 100 Consumers: EUGENE PATTERSON HARRIS
• Representing 100 Consumers: TAMAR G ARMINAK
• Representing 97 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 64 Consumers: ELLIOT ELO

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 12792 complaints filed against debt collectors from Apr 01, 2024 to Apr 30, 2024.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 883

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 6335 I do not know (50%)
• 2151 Credit card debt (17%)
• 1683 Other debt (13%)
• 758 Telecommunications debt (6%)
• 645 Rental debt (5%)
• 584 Medical debt (5%)
• 353 Auto debt (3%)
• 152 Payday loan debt (1%)
• 54 Mortgage debt (0%)
• 41 Private student loan debt (0%)
• 36 Federal student loan debt (0%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 5549 Attempts to collect debt not owed (43%)
• 5068 Written notification about debt (40%)
• 707 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (6%)
• 635 False statements or representation (5%)
• 522 Communication tactics (4%)
• 158 Electronic communications (1%)
• 153 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)

The top five subissues were:

• 3425 Debt is not yours (27%)
• 2928 Notification didnt disclose it was an attempt to collect a debt (23%)
• 1468 Debt was result of identity theft (11%)
• 1175 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (9%)
• 965 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (8%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 2366 Complaints: TX
• 1526 Complaints: FL
• 1230 Complaints: CA
• 972 Complaints: GA
• 725 Complaints: IL
• 691 Complaints: NY
• 514 Complaints: PA
• 356 Complaints: NC
• 308 Complaints: AZ
• 305 Complaints: VA

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

• 6259 Closed with explanation (49%)
• 4010 In progress (31%)
• 2433 Closed with non-monetary relief (19%)
• 65 Untimely response (1%)
• 25 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 12658 (99%) timely responses to complaints, and 134 (1%) untimely responses.