Quick analysis: Apologies for the short hiatus, but we’re back now!
February lawsuits were pretty mixed. FDCPA (+1.6%) and FCRA (+8.2%) were both up a bit, while TCPA (-5.3%) was down a bit.
YTD, however, is actually the opposite. FDCPA (-21.8%) and FCRA (-0.1%) are both down, while TCPA (+22.1%) is off to a busy start. Lots of wild swings in there!
Continuing last year’s trend, CFPB complaints are still going strong. They are down -28.4% for Feb but still up 150% YTD, which goes to show how volatile the numbers can be in this era of uncertainty.
In other news, putative class actions represented 4.1% of FDCPA, 75.5%(!) of TCPA and 1% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. TCPA class actions are still extraordinarily high, historically speaking. About 40% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, South Florida attorney Gerald Lane (from The Law Offices of Jibrael S. Hindi) represented both the most consumers in Feb (57) as well as YTD (113).
Complaint Statistics:
16534 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 926 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Feb 01, 2025 to Feb 28, 2025.
- 16534 CFPB Complaints
- 318 FDCPA, 13 Class Action (4.1%)
- 196 TCPA, 148 Class Action (75.5%)
- 610 FCRA, 6 Class Action (1.0%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 926 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 374, or (40%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 4510 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 140 different US District Court branches.
- About 604 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 69 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 59 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 39 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 35 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 25 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
- 25 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
- 24 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
- 23 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Eastern Division – Riverside
- 23 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 21 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 57 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 24 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 18 Consumers: FAARIS KAMAL UDDIN
- Representing 16 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
- Representing 16 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
- Representing 15 Consumers: MARK A CAREY
- Representing 13 Consumers: JOHN JUSTIN MARAVALLI
- Representing 12 Consumers: MERRICK B WILLIAMS
- Representing 12 Consumers: NICHOLAS J BONTRAGER
Statistics Year to Date:
1968 total lawsuits for 2025, including:
- 631 FDCPA
- 1174 FCRA
- 403 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2025: 1818 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 113 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 46 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 42 Consumers: FAARIS KAMAL UDDIN
- Representing 30 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
- Representing 30 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
- Representing 29 Consumers: ANTHONY PARONICH
- Representing 25 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
- Representing 24 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 22 Consumers: MERRICK B WILLIAMS
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 16534 complaints filed against debt collectors from Feb 01, 2025 to Feb 28, 2025.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 942
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 8959 I do not know (54%)
- 2645 Credit card debt (16%)
- 1827 Other debt (11%)
- 821 Rental debt (5%)
- 797 Telecommunications debt (5%)
- 641 Medical debt (4%)
- 470 Auto debt (3%)
- 188 Payday loan debt (1%)
- 76 Private student loan debt (0%)
- 60 Mortgage debt (0%)
- 50 Federal student loan debt (0%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 8453 Attempts to collect debt not owed (51%)
- 3365 Written notification about debt (20%)
- 1878 False statements or representation (11%)
- 1787 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (11%)
- 666 Communication tactics (4%)
- 235 Electronic communications (1%)
- 150 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 5016 Debt is not yours (30%)
- 2472 Debt was result of identity theft (15%)
- 1700 Attempted to collect wrong amount (10%)
- 1432 Notification didnt disclose it was an attempt to collect a debt (9%)
- 1284 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (8%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 2844 Complaints: TX
- 1899 Complaints: FL
- 1405 Complaints: GA
- 1130 Complaints: CA
- 703 Complaints: PA
- 689 Complaints: IL
- 647 Complaints: NY
- 572 Complaints: NC
- 501 Complaints: OH
- 484 Complaints: MI
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 8495 Closed with explanation (51%)
- 5835 In progress (35%)
- 2094 Closed with non-monetary relief (13%)
- 87 Untimely response (1%)
- 23 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 16322 (99%) timely responses to complaints, and 212 (1%) untimely responses.