WebRecon July 2024 Stats: Mixed Numbers in July, Everything Up YTD

Quick analysis: Mixed Numbers in July, Everything Up YTD

In July, TCPA (-14.6%) and FCRA (-8.5%) were both down, while FDCPA (+21.9%) was up. Meanwhile all three are still up YTD (TCPA +5.2%, FDCPA +15.1%, FCRA +17.7%). If things keep going this way, we’ll have the first “up” year across the board since at least 2015!

In other news, putative class actions represented 2.7% of FDCPA, 61.2%(!) of TCPA and 2.2% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. TCPA class actions are still extraordinarily high, historically speaking. About 37% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Tampa attorney Octavio Gomez once again represented the most consumers in July (22) and for representing the most consumers YTD (176).

Complaint Statistics:

11444 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 834 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2024 to Jul 31, 2024.

• 11444 CFPB Complaints
• 368 FDCPA, 10 Class Action (2.7%)
• 129 TCPA, 79 Class Action (61.2%)
• 454 FCRA, 10 Class Action (2.2%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 834 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 305, or (37%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2219 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 143 different US District Court branches.
• About 583 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 62 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 35 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 28 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
• 27 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 24 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 22 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 21 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
• 20 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 19 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 19 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 22 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 22 Consumers: ELLIOT ELO
• Representing 15 Consumers: JEFF POTTS
• Representing 15 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
• Representing 13 Consumers: BRIAN JOSEPH HOLLAND
• Representing 13 Consumers: MATTHEW RYAN MCCARLEY
• Representing 13 Consumers: MATTHEW FORSBERG
• Representing 13 Consumers: STEVEN HOWARD KOVAL
• Representing 12 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
• Representing 12 Consumers: GLORIA CHI-KI LAM

Statistics Year to Date:
6173 total lawsuits for 2024, including:

• 2605 FDCPA
• 3694 FCRA
• 1054 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2024: 5901 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 176 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 127 Consumers: EILEEN KEUSSEYAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: HAROUT GREG KEOSIAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: ZAREH JACK KOUSIAN
• Representing 127 Consumers: MELKON RAFI MELKONIAN
• Representing 100 Consumers: ZHENYA A BAGDASARYAN
• Representing 100 Consumers: TAMAR G ARMINAK
• Representing 100 Consumers: EUGENE PATTERSON HARRIS
• Representing 100 Consumers: NELLY ISPIRYAN
• Representing 93 Consumers: ELLIOT ELO

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

There were 11444 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2024 to Jul 31, 2024.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 808

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 4262 I do not know (37%)
• 2427 Other debt (21%)
• 2328 Credit card debt (20%)
• 653 Telecommunications debt (6%)
• 598 Rental debt (5%)
• 546 Medical debt (5%)
• 331 Auto debt (3%)
• 152 Payday loan debt (1%)
• 69 Mortgage debt (1%)
• 43 Federal student loan debt (0%)
• 35 Private student loan debt (0%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 5465 Attempts to collect debt not owed (48%)
• 4036 Written notification about debt (35%)
• 679 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (6%)
• 525 False statements or representation (5%)
• 462 Communication tactics (4%)
• 145 Electronic communications (1%)
• 132 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)

The top five subissues were:

• 3383 Debt is not yours (30%)
• 2000 Notification didnt disclose it was an attempt to collect a debt (17%)
• 1492 Debt was result of identity theft (13%)
• 1019 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (9%)
• 1017 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (9%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 1822 Complaints: TX
• 1458 Complaints: FL
• 968 Complaints: CA
• 899 Complaints: GA
• 619 Complaints: PA
• 525 Complaints: NY
• 405 Complaints: IL
• 389 Complaints: VA
• 362 Complaints: NC
• 298 Complaints: OH

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

• 6516 Closed with explanation (57%)
• 2621 Closed with non-monetary relief (23%)
• 2268 In progress (20%)
• 25 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
• 14 Untimely response (0%)

This includes 11370 (99%) timely responses to complaints, and 74 (1%) untimely responses.