Quick analysis: Is FCRA the New TCPA?
Prelude…vcra big picture.
In a month where the numbers of every other type of complaint was a bit depressed, FCRA has continued its remarkable growth streak, with a strong 422 plaintiffs represented in February invoking the statute.
FCRA used to be the ugly stepchild to TCPA, the statute that almost always had the the slightly better numbers and momentum. That trend appears to have subsided. Notice how the red lines (TCPA) used to be more prominent in the grid below, and how it is now the blue lines (FCRA) creating the most waves.
CFPB complaints, while down from January’s extraordinary number of 4962, is still several hundred complaints above the last 12-months average of 4162 with 4439 complaints for the month of February.
Back to consumer litigation…
Putative class actions were higher than average last month with 23% of FDCPA, 22.3% of TCPA and 36.3% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 33% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, Ohio attorney Thomas J. Connick broke out of obscurity and took the crown as the most active consumer attorney this month by representing 129 consumers in a mega-FCRA case . Not uncoincidentally, he also has the most consumers represented year-to-date, also 129.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 01, 2018 Feb 28, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2018 Jan 31, 2018 |
Feb 01, 2017 Feb 28, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2018 Feb 28, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2017 Feb 28, 2017 |
|||||
| BBB | 2458 | 2752 | -10.7% | 5195 | -52.7% | 5210 | 10042 | -48.1% | |
| CFPB | 4439 | 4962 | -10.5% | 4010 | 10.7% | 9401 | 7778 | 20.9% | |
| FDCPA | 788 | 815 | -3.3% | 829 | -4.9% | 1603 | 1650 | -2.8% | |
| FCRA | 422 | 309 | 36.6% | 265 | 59.2% | 731 | 683 | 7.0% | |
| TCPA | 296 | 315 | -6.0% | 376 | -21.3% | 611 | 777 | -21.4% | |
Complaint Statistics:
2458 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4439 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1302 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Feb 01, 2018 to Feb 28, 2018.
- 2458 BBB Complaints
- 4439 CFPB Complaints
- 788 FDCPA, 181 Class Action (23.0%)
- 296 TCPA, 66 Class Action (22.3%)
- 422 FCRA, 153 Class Action (36.3%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1302 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 435, or (33%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 4069 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 147 different US District Court branches.
- About 744 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 121 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 54 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 50 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 48 Lawsuits: California Eastern District Court – Sacramento
- 42 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 36 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 33 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 29 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 28 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 28 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 129 Consumers: THOMAS J CONNICK
- Representing 52 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 42 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 38 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 38 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
- Representing 29 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 29 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
- Representing 29 Consumers: SARAH MARGARET BARNES
- Representing 29 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 25 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
Statistics Year to Date:
2351 total lawsuits for 2018, including:
- 1603 FDCPA
- 731 FCRA
- 611 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2018: 2475 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 129 Consumers: THOMAS J CONNICK
- Representing 103 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 80 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 75 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 71 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 61 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 57 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
- Representing 51 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
- Representing 51 Consumers: SARAH MARGARET BARNES
- Representing 51 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 2458 BBB complaints against debt collectors and creditors from Feb 01, 2018 to Feb 28, 2018. That is down -10.7% from last month.
The categories of complaints filed were:
- 1591 Billing/Collection Issues (65%)
- 725 Problems with Product/Service (29%)
- 66 Advertising/Sales Issues (3%)
- 42 Delivery Issues (2%)
- 21 (1%)
- 13 Guarantee/Warranty Issues (1%)
The dispositions of these complaints are:
- 1633 The Business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either (a) did not accept the response, OR (b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction. (66%)
- 593 The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. (24%)
- 175 The business failed to respond to the dispute. (7%)
- 26 The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it. (1%)
- 17 BBB is unable to locate the business. (1%)
- 14 (1%)
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4439 complaints filed against debt collectors from Feb 01, 2018 to Feb 28, 2018.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 870
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1401 Other debt (32%)
- 965 I do not know (22%)
- 831 Credit card debt (19%)
- 708 Medical debt (16%)
- 140 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 125 Auto debt (3%)
- 100 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 92 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 77 Private student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1857 Attempts to collect debt not owed (42%)
- 1129 Written notification about debt (25%)
- 541 Communication tactics (12%)
- 411 False statements or representation (9%)
- 396 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
- 105 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1034 Debt is not yours (23%)
- 814 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (18%)
- 448 Debt was paid (10%)
- 319 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
- 314 Frequent or repeated calls (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 1036 Complaints:
- 411 Complaints: FL
- 384 Complaints: CA
- 368 Complaints: TX
- 201 Complaints: GA
- 186 Complaints: NY
- 153 Complaints: IL
- 128 Complaints: NC
- 111 Complaints: NJ
- 102 Complaints: MI
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3450 Closed with explanation (78%)
- 564 Closed with non-monetary relief (13%)
- 253 In progress (6%)
- 147 Untimely response (3%)
- 24 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
- 1 (0%)
This includes 4202 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 237 (5%) untimely responses.