WebRecon Stats Dec ’22 & Year in Review

Quick analysis: WebRecon Stats Dec ’22 & Year in Review

Litigation activity picked up a bit for an end-of-year rally as FDCPA complaints (+11.2%) hit double digits over last month and FCRA complaints (+8%) were also up more than usual. TCPA complaints (-32.4%) were still down though, by a lot.

For the full year 2022, FDCPA (-31.3%) and TCPA (-10.8%) were both down significantly over 2021, while FCRA (+3.5%) eked out another year increase – ironically by exactly the same percentage as 2022 over 2021. TCPA’s rate of decrease slowed considerably to about 1/5 of last year’s full year decrease of -48.3% while FDCPA’s rate of decrease significantly accelerated (more than seven-fold) over last year’s full year decrease of -4.4%.

CFPB complaints were up +6.8% for the month but down -16.4% for the year over 2021.

In other news, putative class actions represented 11.8% of FDCPA, 55.3% of TCPA and 4.5% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 39% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, San Diego attorney Ahren Tiller took the top spot for representing the most consumers in December (12) while Florida attorney Jibrael Jarallah Said Hindi was the most active consumer attorney of the year with 237 consumers represented in all of 2022.

Complaint Statistics:

4695 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 736 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Dec 01, 2022 to Dec 31, 2022.

• 4695 CFPB Complaints
• 297 FDCPA, 35 Class Action (11.8%)
• 94 TCPA, 52 Class Action (55.3%)
• 447 FCRA, 20 Class Action (4.5%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 736 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 290, or (39%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1532 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 133 different US District Court branches.
• About 487 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 41 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 39 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 35 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 31 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 24 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 24 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 23 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 20 Lawsuits: Arizona District Court – Phoenix
• 19 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 17 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 12 Consumers: AHREN A TILLER
• Representing 11 Consumers: CATRINA EOM SMITH
• Representing 11 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
• Representing 10 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
• Representing 9 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 9 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 9 Consumers: BRIDGET LYNN SCARANGELLA
• Representing 9 Consumers: JOEL SPENCER HALVORSEN
• Representing 8 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
• Representing 8 Consumers: YAAKOV SAKS

Statistics Year to Date:
10743 total lawsuits for 2022, including:

• 4525 FDCPA
• 5597 FCRA
• 1531 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2022: 9385 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 237 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
• Representing 225 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 206 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
• Representing 143 Consumers: CRAIG CARLEY MARCHIANDO
• Representing 140 Consumers: CATRINA EOM SMITH
• Representing 136 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
• Representing 133 Consumers: LEONARD ANTHONY BENNETT
• Representing 132 Consumers: SYED HASEEB HUSSAIN
• Representing 131 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
• Representing 124 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4695 complaints filed against debt collectors from Dec 01, 2022 to Dec 31, 2022.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 751

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1414 Other debt (30%)
• 1254 I do not know (27%)
• 977 Credit card debt (21%)
• 662 Medical debt (14%)
• 209 Auto debt (4%)
• 69 Payday loan debt (1%)
• 52 Mortgage debt (1%)
• 31 Private student loan debt (1%)
• 27 Federal student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 2566 Attempts to collect debt not owed (55%)
• 813 Written notification about debt (17%)
• 443 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
• 408 False statements or representation (9%)
• 377 Communication tactics (8%)
• 88 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1404 Debt is not yours (30%)
• 759 Debt was result of identity theft (16%)
• 525 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (11%)
• 332 Debt was paid (7%)
• 306 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 535 Complaints: FL
• 483 Complaints: TX
• 472 Complaints: GA
• 401 Complaints: CA
• 224 Complaints: NY
• 199 Complaints: PA
• 183 Complaints: IL
• 180 Complaints: OH
• 177 Complaints: MI
• 164 Complaints: NC

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

• 3634 Closed with explanation (77%)
• 593 In progress (13%)
• 391 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
• 56 Untimely response (1%)
• 21 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 4541 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 154 (3%) untimely responses.