WebRecon Sept 2023 Stats: The Pendulum…

Quick analysis: The Pendulum…

September saw the consumer complaint pendulum keep on swinging. After August’s big month for lawsuits, most were back down in the month-over-month comparisons. FCRA suits were the exception – while FCRA had been the one consistent growth area in consumer litigation over the last couple of years, they’ve tended to swing with the same volatility as the other statutes in recent months. In September, FCRA was once again the one growth area on our chart with a +6.5% increase over August, while FDCPA (-4.8%) and TCPA (-1.9%) were both down.

Meanwhile, when you look at YTD comparisons, only TCPA suits (+13.1%) were up wile FDCPA (-18.1%) and FCRA (-3.7%) were down for the year.

CFPB complaints were also down again, dropping -17.6% for the month and down -4% YTD.

In other news, putative class actions represented 6.4% of FDCPA, 57.4% of TCPA and 2.9% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 43% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Texas attorney Shawn Jaffer took the top spot for the first time by representing the most consumers in September (18) while Tampa-area attorney Octavio Gomez has represented the most consumers YTD (140) so far in 2023.

Complaint Statistics:

4849 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 844 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Sep 01, 2023 to Sep 30, 2023.

• 4849 CFPB Complaints
• 360 FDCPA, 23 Class Action (6.4%)
• 155 TCPA, 89 Class Action (57.4%)
• 526 FCRA, 15 Class Action (2.9%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 844 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 365, or (43%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3000 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 158 different US District Court branches.
• About 595 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 67 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 43 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 37 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 35 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 33 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
• 30 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 25 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana
• 21 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
• 19 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 17 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 18 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
• Representing 16 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 14 Consumers: YITZCHAK ZELMAN
• Representing 14 Consumers: JOEL SPENCER HALVORSEN
• Representing 14 Consumers: JOHN THOMAS STEINKAMP
• Representing 13 Consumers: GARRETT FORRESTER CHARITY
• Representing 12 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
• Representing 10 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 10 Consumers: JIMMY B MEEKS
• Representing 10 Consumers: J ROSS PEPPER

Statistics Year to Date:
7485 total lawsuits for 2023, including:

• 3019 FDCPA
• 4176 FCRA
• 1324 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2023: 6627 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 140 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
• Representing 136 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 109 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
• Representing 96 Consumers: JOEL SPENCER HALVORSEN
• Representing 96 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 93 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
• Representing 85 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
• Representing 78 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 77 Consumers: JOHN THOMAS STEINKAMP
• Representing 75 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4849 complaints filed against debt collectors from Sep 01, 2023 to Sep 30, 2023.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 716

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1258 I do not know (26%)
• 1126 Credit card debt (23%)
• 747 Other debt (15%)
• 504 Medical debt (10%)
• 434 Telecommunications debt (9%)
• 368 Rental debt (8%)
• 212 Auto debt (4%)
• 108 Payday loan debt (2%)
• 34 Mortgage debt (1%)
• 31 Private student loan debt (1%)
• 27 Federal student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 2674 Attempts to collect debt not owed (55%)
• 851 Written notification about debt (18%)
• 476 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
• 341 Communication tactics (7%)
• 313 False statements or representation (6%)
• 116 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
• 78 Electronic communications (2%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1338 Debt is not yours (28%)
• 923 Debt was result of identity theft (19%)
• 542 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (11%)
• 327 Debt was paid (7%)
• 275 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 562 Complaints: FL
• 551 Complaints: TX
• 446 Complaints: CA
• 417 Complaints: GA
• 228 Complaints: PA
• 203 Complaints: NY
• 199 Complaints: IL
• 185 Complaints: NC
• 136 Complaints: VA
• 129 Complaints: MD

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

• 3595 Closed with explanation (74%)
• 678 In progress (14%)
• 519 Closed with non-monetary relief (11%)
• 45 Untimely response (1%)
• 12 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 4768 (98%) timely responses to complaints, and 81 (2%) untimely responses.