WebRecon June 2023 Stats: Another “Down” Month

Quick analysis: Another “Down” Month

Alright, this is kind of funny. The numbers have been swinging pretty wildly this year so far, because I just looked over the headlines of each month’s blog post and this is what they say:

• Jan: WebRecon Stats: 2023 Starts With Some Bite (Lawsuits Up)
• Feb: Feb 2023 WebRecon Stats: The Red Sea (Everything is down)
• Mar: WebRecon March 2023 Stats: Increased Complaints Across the Board
• Apr: WebRecon April 2023 Stats: Everything Down Again
• May: WebRecon May 2023 Stats: Everything Up Again
• And for June: WebRecon June 2023 Stats: Another “Down” Month

Seeing the pattern here? After everything was up in May, June’s numbers all dropped again. FDCPA (-3.6%), FCRA (-10.5%) and TCPA (-33.9%) were all down for the month, and FDCPA (-27%) and FCRA (-7.8%) are both down YTD as well – a surprising twist for FCRA year-over-year trending. Only TCPA (+17.1%) was up YTD, primarily due to a big plaintiff-boost last month in a few suits.

CFPB complaints against collectors and creditors were down both for the month (-12.5%) and for the year (-12.2%).

In other news, putative class actions represented 8.2% of FDCPA, 58.1% of TCPA (!) and 1.4% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 37% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Chicago-area attorney James Parr represented the most consumers in June (28) while Atlanta attorney Matthew Thomas Berry has represented the most consumers YTD (99) so far in 2023.

Complaint Statistics:

5190 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 784 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jun 01, 2023 to Jun 30, 2023.

• 5190 CFPB Complaints
• 318 FDCPA, 26 Class Action (8.2%)
• 148 TCPA, 86 Class Action (58.1%)
• 451 FCRA, 10 Class Action (2.2%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 784 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 288, or (37%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2706 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 139 different US District Court branches.
• About 541 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 66 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 37 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 37 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 28 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 26 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 22 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
• 21 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
• 19 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 19 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
• 19 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 28 Consumers: JAMES J PARR
• Representing 27 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 15 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
• Representing 12 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 11 Consumers: ALLEN EDGAR ROBERTSON
• Representing 11 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
• Representing 11 Consumers: M STAN HERRING
• Representing 11 Consumers: JOHN G WATTS
• Representing 11 Consumers: FRANK H KERNEY
• Representing 10 Consumers: GREGORY MICHAEL KLOTE

Statistics Year to Date:
4858 total lawsuits for 2023, including:

• 1951 FDCPA
• 2690 FCRA
• 861 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2023: 4436 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 99 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 76 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 69 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
• Representing 68 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
• Representing 63 Consumers: ALLEN EDGAR ROBERTSON
• Representing 63 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 56 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
• Representing 55 Consumers: AHREN A TILLER
• Representing 54 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 52 Consumers: JOEL SPENCER HALVORSEN

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 5190 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jun 01, 2023 to Jun 30, 2023.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 751

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1589 Other debt (31%)
• 1416 I do not know (27%)
• 1165 Credit card debt (22%)
• 527 Medical debt (10%)
• 277 Auto debt (5%)
• 105 Payday loan debt (2%)
• 52 Mortgage debt (1%)
• 33 Private student loan debt (1%)
• 26 Federal student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 2772 Attempts to collect debt not owed (53%)
• 890 Written notification about debt (17%)
• 542 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
• 470 False statements or representation (9%)
• 435 Communication tactics (8%)
• 81 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1459 Debt is not yours (28%)
• 863 Debt was result of identity theft (17%)
• 584 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (11%)
• 362 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
• 361 Debt was paid (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 633 Complaints: TX
• 620 Complaints: FL
• 415 Complaints: CA
• 391 Complaints: GA
• 238 Complaints: NY
• 234 Complaints: PA
• 220 Complaints: IL
• 180 Complaints: NC
• 171 Complaints: NJ
• 156 Complaints: TN

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

• 3853 Closed with explanation (74%)
• 796 In progress (15%)
• 481 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
• 42 Untimely response (1%)
• 18 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 5089 (98%) timely responses to complaints, and 101 (2%) untimely responses.