Quick analysis: Sea of Green (and not the good kind…)
Everything was up in March (TCPA +23.5%, FCRA +5.2%, FDCPA +27.7%) over February, and only FDCPA (-8.7%) was down YTD over 2023, while TCPA (+35.5%) and FCRA (+8.5%) were also up YTD. Welcome to spring!
CFPB complaints were also up for the month (+16%) and the year (+116.4%!)
In other news, putative class actions represented 5.9% of FDCPA, 77.3%(!) of TCPA and 2.3% 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) continued for a second month to represent both the most consumers in Feb (90) as well as YTD (203).
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 01, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 |
Feb 01, 2025 Feb 28, 2025 |
Mar 01, 2024 Mar 31, 2024 |
Jan 01, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 |
Jan 01, 2024 Mar 31, 2024 |
|||||
| CFPB | 20485 | 17653 | 16.0% | 12693 | 61.4% | 62707 | 28978 | 116.4% | |
| FDCPA | 406 | 318 | 27.7% | 315 | 28.9% | 1037 | 1136 | -8.7% | |
| FCRA | 642 | 610 | 5.2% | 465 | 38.1% | 1816 | 1674 | 8.5% | |
| TCPA | 242 | 196 | 23.5% | 139 | 74.1% | 645 | 476 | 35.5% | |
Complaint Statistics:
20485 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1053 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Mar 01, 2025 to Mar 31, 2025.
- 20485 CFPB Complaints
- 406 FDCPA, 24 Class Action (5.9%)
- 242 TCPA, 187 Class Action (77.3%)
- 642 FCRA, 15 Class Action (2.3%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1053 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 425, or (40%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3224 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 145 different US District Court branches.
- About 680 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 100 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 75 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 74 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 43 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 34 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 33 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Eastern Division – Riverside
- 28 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 26 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
- 26 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
- 26 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 90 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 35 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
- Representing 23 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: MICHAEL KIND
- Representing 21 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 20 Consumers: JEFF LOHMAN
- Representing 20 Consumers: MATTHEW TRIPP-COX
- Representing 19 Consumers: FAARIS KAMAL UDDIN
- Representing 17 Consumers: YITZCHAK ZELMAN
Statistics Year to Date:
3089 total lawsuits for 2025, including:
- 1037 FDCPA
- 1816 FCRA
- 645 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2025: 2806 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 203 Consumers: GERALD D LANE
- Representing 67 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 61 Consumers: FAARIS KAMAL UDDIN
- Representing 60 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
- Representing 43 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: ANTHONY PARONICH
- Representing 35 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
- Representing 35 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
- Representing 34 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
——————————————————————————————————-
CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 20485 complaints filed against debt collectors from Mar 01, 2025 to Mar 31, 2025.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 996
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 11850 I do not know (58%)
- 2916 Credit card debt (14%)
- 2453 Other debt (12%)
- 892 Telecommunications debt (4%)
- 792 Rental debt (4%)
- 679 Medical debt (3%)
- 490 Auto debt (2%)
- 198 Payday loan debt (1%)
- 82 Federal student loan debt (0%)
- 78 Private student loan debt (0%)
- 55 Mortgage debt (0%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 9231 Attempts to collect debt not owed (45%)
- 4567 Written notification about debt (22%)
- 3252 False statements or representation (16%)
- 2183 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (11%)
- 744 Communication tactics (4%)
- 317 Electronic communications (2%)
- 191 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 5969 Debt is not yours (29%)
- 3042 Attempted to collect wrong amount (15%)
- 2426 Debt was result of identity theft (12%)
- 2410 Notification didnt disclose it was an attempt to collect a debt (12%)
- 1467 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 3479 Complaints: TX
- 2555 Complaints: FL
- 1848 Complaints: GA
- 1391 Complaints: CA
- 932 Complaints: NY
- 867 Complaints: IL
- 843 Complaints: PA
- 595 Complaints: NC
- 544 Complaints: NJ
- 544 Complaints: MI
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 9567 Closed with explanation (47%)
- 8473 In progress (41%)
- 2295 Closed with non-monetary relief (11%)
- 129 Untimely response (1%)
- 21 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 20242 (99%) timely responses to complaints, and 243 (1%) untimely responses.