Quick analysis: Summer Vacations are Over
After a summer season where most litigation was either consistently down or only marginally increasing, August litigation and consumer complaints rebounded with double-digit increases across the board.
TCPA (+33.3%) led the month with the stongest increase, followed by FDCPA (+15.5%) and FCRA (+11.9%). FCRA is still the only statute ahead of last year in the YTD column (+4.2%) whole TCPA (-20%) and FDCPA (-25.5%) are still in the negatives. A few more months like August, and that could easily change.
CFPB complaints against collectors and creditors were also up strong for the month (+12.5%), but are still down for the year (-15.6%).
In other news, putative class actions represented 9.9% of FDCPA, 48.8% of TCPA and 3.2% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 42% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Las Vegas attorney Michael Kind make his debut at the top of this list for representing the most consumers in August (26)* while Florida attorney Jibrael S Hindi has still represented the most consumers for the year so far (228).
* Technically Shireen Hormozdi Bowman represented 30 consumers, but 27 of them were in one lawsuit so we are giving the title to Michael Kind.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 01, 2022 Aug 31, 2022 |
Jul 01, 2022 Jul 31, 2022 |
Aug 01, 2021 Aug 31, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2022 Aug 31, 2022 |
Jan 01, 2021 Aug 31, 2021 |
|||||
| CFPB | 4984 | 4431 | 12.5% | 6190 | -19.5% | 41668 | 49371 | -15.6% | |
| FDCPA | 372 | 322 | 15.5% | 601 | -38.1% | 3358 | 4510 | -25.5% | |
| FCRA | 497 | 444 | 11.9% | 473 | 5.1% | 3830 | 3674 | 4.2% | |
| TCPA | 168 | 126 | 33.3% | 120 | 40.0% | 1027 | 1283 | -20.0% | |
Complaint Statistics:
4984 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 919 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Aug 01, 2022 to Aug 31, 2022.
- 4984 CFPB Complaints
- 372 FDCPA, 37 Class Action (9.9%)
- 168 TCPA, 82 Class Action (48.8%)
- 497 FCRA, 16 Class Action (3.2%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 919 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 389, or (42%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2846 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 147 different US District Court branches.
- About 672 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 62 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 53 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 46 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 38 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 30 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 29 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
- 25 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 25 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
- 24 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 22 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 30 Consumers: SHIREEN HORMOZDI BOWMAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: MICHAEL KIND
- Representing 26 Consumers: GERARDO AVALOS
- Representing 26 Consumers: GEORGE HAINES
- Representing 26 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 17 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 16 Consumers: SYED HASEEB HUSSAIN
- Representing 16 Consumers: CATRINA EOM SMITH
- Representing 15 Consumers: JOHN W KAUFFMAN
- Representing 10 Consumers: CARL SCHWARTZ
Statistics Year to Date:
7511 total lawsuits for 2022, including:
- 3358 FDCPA
- 3830 FCRA
- 1027 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2022: 6796 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 228 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 195 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 179 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 134 Consumers: CRAIG CARLEY MARCHIANDO
- Representing 127 Consumers: LEONARD ANTHONY BENNETT
- Representing 116 Consumers: DREW DAVID SARRETT
- Representing 107 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 106 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
- Representing 99 Consumers: SYED HASEEB HUSSAIN
- Representing 85 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4984 complaints filed against debt collectors from Aug 01, 2022 to Aug 31, 2022.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 818
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1415 Other debt (28%)
- 1176 I do not know (24%)
- 1135 Credit card debt (23%)
- 718 Medical debt (14%)
- 247 Auto debt (5%)
- 141 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 91 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 40 Private student loan debt (1%)
- 21 Federal student loan debt (0%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2680 Attempts to collect debt not owed (54%)
- 903 Written notification about debt (18%)
- 506 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 471 False statements or representation (9%)
- 347 Communication tactics (7%)
- 77 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1423 Debt is not yours (29%)
- 775 Debt was result of identity theft (16%)
- 592 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (12%)
- 402 Debt was paid (8%)
- 381 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 585 Complaints: FL
- 583 Complaints: TX
- 487 Complaints: CA
- 404 Complaints: GA
- 252 Complaints: IL
- 227 Complaints: PA
- 210 Complaints: NY
- 157 Complaints: NJ
- 143 Complaints: NC
- 137 Complaints: MI
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3785 Closed with explanation (76%)
- 671 In progress (13%)
- 450 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
- 58 Untimely response (1%)
- 20 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 4838 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 146 (3%) untimely responses.