Quick analysis: They don’t call it “Fall” for nuthin’…
After everything (FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA) was up by double-digit percentages last month, everything is down by double-digit percentages this month. Well, almost. FDCPA had to be difficult and mess up my sweeping allegory by keeping its toe just under the line at 9.9%. But with that one exception, everything is double digits.
CFPB complaints, on the other hand, were down last month and up this month – exactly opposite of consumer litigation. Go figure.
Even after a precipitous drop of 19.3% last month, FCRA litigation is still up 5.1% YTD. But that is the only one, with FDCPA down 10.3% and TCPA down 15% from this time last year. At this point, it is tough to see how either of those recover to top last year’s number by the end of 2019, but one never knows.
In other news, putative class actions were a bit high last month with 21.1% of FDCPA, 41.5% of TCPA and 7.7% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
Over 40% of TCPA lawsuits being filed as putative class actions should be terrifying to companies that dial for a living.
About 39% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. That number is really high as well.
And finally, Texas FCRA attorneys Jonathan Forrest Raburn and Dennis Dean McCarty stayed in the top spot, representing more consumers (32) than anyone else last month, all of them multi-plaintiff FCRA cases. New York attorney Craig B. Sanders is still at the top of the list YTD with 307 consumers represented.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 01, 2019 Aug 31, 2019 |
Jul 01, 2019 Jul 31, 2019 |
Aug 01, 2018 Aug 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2019 Aug 31, 2019 |
Jan 01, 2018 Aug 31, 2018 |
|||||
| CFPB | 4265 | 4044 | 5.5% | 4444 | -4.0% | 31918 | 37266 | -14.4% | |
| FDCPA | 634 | 704 | -9.9% | 909 | -30.3% | 5728 | 6383 | -10.3% | |
| FCRA | 413 | 512 | -19.3% | 433 | -4.6% | 3297 | 3138 | 5.1% | |
| TCPA | 246 | 286 | -14.0% | 363 | -32.2% | 2300 | 2707 | -15.0% | |
Complaint Statistics:
4265 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1225 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Aug 01, 2019 to Aug 31, 2019.
- 4265 CFPB Complaints
- 634 FDCPA, 134 Class Action (21.1%)
- 246 TCPA, 102 Class Action (41.5%)
- 413 FCRA, 32 Class Action (7.7%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1225 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 472, or (39%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 4103 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 165 different US District Court branches.
- About 781 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 61 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 49 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 43 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 42 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 41 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 39 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 36 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 36 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 30 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 26 Lawsuits: Delaware District Court – Wilmington
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 32 Consumers: JONATHAN FORREST RABURN
- Representing 32 Consumers: DENNIS DEAN MCCARTY
- Representing 29 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 28 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 27 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 24 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 23 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 21 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
- Representing 21 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
- Representing 21 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
Statistics Year to Date:
9624 total lawsuits for 2019, including:
- 5728 FDCPA
- 3297 FCRA
- 2300 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2019: 9259 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 307 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 280 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 231 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 231 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 207 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 203 Consumers: JONATHAN FORREST RABURN
- Representing 170 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 166 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 166 Consumers: MITCHELL L PASHKIN
- Representing 163 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4265 complaints filed against debt collectors from Aug 01, 2019 to Aug 31, 2019.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 813
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1174 Other debt (28%)
- 1000 Credit card debt (23%)
- 935 I do not know (22%)
- 718 Medical debt (17%)
- 134 Auto debt (3%)
- 99 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 83 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 68 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 54 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2058 Attempts to collect debt not owed (48%)
- 849 Written notification about debt (20%)
- 436 Communication tactics (10%)
- 408 False statements or representation (10%)
- 406 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 108 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1017 Debt is not yours (24%)
- 604 Debt was result of identity theft (14%)
- 596 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (14%)
- 360 Debt was paid (8%)
- 340 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 543 Complaints: TX
- 525 Complaints: CA
- 443 Complaints: FL
- 247 Complaints: NY
- 236 Complaints: GA
- 147 Complaints: PA
- 140 Complaints: OH
- 140 Complaints: NJ
- 130 Complaints: IL
- 126 Complaints: NC
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3355 Closed with explanation (79%)
- 414 In progress (10%)
- 363 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
- 109 Untimely response (3%)
- 24 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 4094 (96%) timely responses to complaints, and 171 (4%) untimely responses.