Quick analysis: Everything is down.
FDCPA down. TCPA down. FCRA down. It’s all down month over month. It’s all down YTD. It’s all down year over year. It’s all down.
Except for CFPB complaints. Those are up +4.4% for the month and a whopping +35.5% YTD.
In other news, putative class actions represented 15.1% of FDCPA, 41.9% of TCPA and 5.1% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month.
About 32% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, a familiar name has worked its way back to the top of the list for most active consumer attorney of the month: New York attorney Craig B. Sanders represented 25 consumers last month. Los Angeles attorney Todd M. Friedman still holds the title of the most active consumer attorney of the year, with 56 consumers represented.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 01, 2021 Feb 28, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 31, 2021 |
Feb 01, 2020 Feb 28, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2021 Feb 28, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2020 Feb 28, 2020 |
|||||
| CFPB | 5235 | 5015 | 4.4% | 3856 | 35.8% | 10250 | 7621 | 34.5% | |
| FDCPA | 471 | 492 | -4.3% | 630 | -25.2% | 963 | 1280 | -24.8% | |
| FCRA | 412 | 461 | -10.6% | 420 | -1.9% | 873 | 902 | -3.2% | |
| TCPA | 160 | 239 | -33.1% | 272 | -41.2% | 399 | 810 | -50.7% | |
Complaint Statistics:
5235 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 950 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Feb 01, 2021 to Feb 28, 2021.
- 5235 CFPB Complaints
- 471 FDCPA, 71 Class Action (15.1%)
- 160 TCPA, 67 Class Action (41.9%)
- 412 FCRA, 21 Class Action (5.1%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 950 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 306, or (32%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3483 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 148 different US District Court branches.
- About 654 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 59 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 48 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 48 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 40 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 33 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 32 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – Foley Square
- 30 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 28 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 24 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 21 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 25 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 16 Consumers: YOSEF STEINMETZ
- Representing 14 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
- Representing 14 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 14 Consumers: JONATHAN MARK CADER
- Representing 13 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 13 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 12 Consumers: JOSHUA P WARD
- Representing 11 Consumers: KENNY G OH
Statistics Year to Date:
2026 total lawsuits for 2021, including:
- 963 FDCPA
- 873 FCRA
- 399 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 2002 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 56 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 53 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 47 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 32 Consumers: JONATHAN MARK CADER
- Representing 32 Consumers: MATTHEW B WEISBERG
- Representing 32 Consumers: GARY SCHAFKOPF
- Representing 31 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
- Representing 29 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 28 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 27 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 5235 complaints filed against debt collectors from Feb 01, 2021 to Feb 28, 2021.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 813
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1483 Credit card debt (28%)
- 1333 Other debt (25%)
- 1090 I do not know (21%)
- 799 Medical debt (15%)
- 231 Auto debt (4%)
- 129 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 82 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 46 Private student loan debt (1%)
- 42 Federal student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2816 Attempts to collect debt not owed (54%)
- 1148 Written notification about debt (22%)
- 418 False statements or representation (8%)
- 384 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 369 Communication tactics (7%)
- 100 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1465 Debt is not yours (28%)
- 863 Debt was result of identity theft (16%)
- 760 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (15%)
- 417 Debt was paid (8%)
- 345 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 641 Complaints: TX
- 594 Complaints: FL
- 532 Complaints: CA
- 442 Complaints: GA
- 296 Complaints: NY
- 222 Complaints: MA
- 184 Complaints: IL
- 164 Complaints: PA
- 155 Complaints: VA
- 152 Complaints: NC
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 4272 Closed with explanation (82%)
- 459 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
- 401 In progress (8%)
- 85 Untimely response (2%)
- 18 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 5110 (98%) timely responses to complaints, and 125 (2%) untimely responses.