Quick analysis: Summer Divergences
August was marked by a few interesting divergences among the data. First, FDCPA lawsuits were up (+7.5%) over the previous month while down (-6.4%) YTD from 2020. TCPA lawsuits were down (-7.7%) from the previous month and YTD (don’t use our YTD comparison, it is tainted by a crazy 2020 filing with a zillion plaintiffs in it). And FCRA was up both over the previous month and YTD (+8.5%, +7.3%, respectively).
Also, CFPB complaints, which have been on a tear this year, were down quite a bit from July (-18.2%) while still being up (a whopping 37.2%) from 2020.
In other news, putative class actions represented 21.1% of FDCPA, 47.5% of TCPA and 3.2% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 40% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry took the top spot for representing the most consumers in August (42) and being most active consumer attorney of the year with 207 consumers represented so far in 2021.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 01, 2021 Aug 31, 2021 |
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 31, 2021 |
Aug 01, 2020 Aug 31, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2021 Aug 31, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2020 Aug 31, 2020 |
|||||
| CFPB | 5869 | 7179 | -18.2% | 4742 | 23.8% | 47900 | 34916 | 37.2% | |
| FDCPA | 601 | 559 | 7.5% | 532 | 13.0% | 4507 | 4816 | -6.4% | |
| FCRA | 473 | 436 | 8.5% | 419 | 12.9% | 3674 | 3425 | 7.3% | |
| TCPA | 120 | 130 | -7.7% | 225 | -46.7% | 1277 | 2572 | -50.3% | |
Complaint Statistics:
5869 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1029 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Aug 01, 2021 to Aug 31, 2021.
- 5869 CFPB Complaints
- 601 FDCPA, 127 Class Action (21.1%)
- 120 TCPA, 57 Class Action (47.5%)
- 473 FCRA, 15 Class Action (3.2%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1029 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 416, or (40%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3415 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 163 different US District Court branches.
- About 675 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 74 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 55 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 44 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 44 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 35 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 33 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 33 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 29 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 28 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
- 25 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – Foley Square
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 42 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 25 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 25 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 24 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 20 Consumers: OMAR TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 20 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 18 Consumers: VICTOR THOMAS METROFF
- Representing 18 Consumers: ALAIN CESAR
- Representing 18 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 17 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
Statistics Year to Date:
8497 total lawsuits for 2021, including:
- 4507 FDCPA
- 3674 FCRA
- 1277 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 7874 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 207 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 162 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 137 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 130 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 128 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 118 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 118 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 115 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 110 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 109 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 5869 complaints filed against debt collectors from Aug 01, 2021 to Aug 31, 2021.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 869
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1633 Credit card debt (28%)
- 1468 I do not know (25%)
- 1380 Other debt (24%)
- 845 Medical debt (14%)
- 251 Auto debt (4%)
- 136 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 73 Mortgage debt (1%)
- 47 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 36 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 3188 Attempts to collect debt not owed (54%)
- 1381 Written notification about debt (24%)
- 438 False statements or representation (7%)
- 434 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 346 Communication tactics (6%)
- 82 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1548 Debt is not yours (26%)
- 1131 Debt was result of identity theft (19%)
- 1061 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (18%)
- 426 Debt was paid (7%)
- 353 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 808 Complaints: TX
- 675 Complaints: FL
- 623 Complaints: CA
- 483 Complaints: GA
- 267 Complaints: NY
- 254 Complaints: PA
- 195 Complaints: SC
- 194 Complaints: OH
- 175 Complaints: NC
- 175 Complaints: IL
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 4708 Closed with explanation (80%)
- 572 In progress (10%)
- 466 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 103 Untimely response (2%)
- 20 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 5721 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 148 (3%) untimely responses.