Quick analysis: 2018 started with a bit of a bang. FDCPA complaints were at their highest since Aug 2017, FCRA and TCPA were both up from last month and even with all of the drama around CFPB leadership, CFPB complaints had (by far) their highest month ever with 4925 complaints. The next highest months were August 2017 with 4650 and March 2017 with 4648.
As CFPB and BBB data takes a bit longer to settle than litigation data, we delayed reporting full year numbers last month to give the best data we could. Here are your full year reports for 2017:
Back to litigation…
Putative class actions were mixed last month with 23.8% of FDCPA, 19.4% of TCPA and 8.4% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 35% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, New York attorney Craig B. Sanders retained the crown as the most active consumer attorney this month by representing 51 consumers in January (and, of course, year-to-date).
Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 01, 2018 Jan 31, 2018 |
Dec 01, 2017 Dec 31, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2017 Jan 31, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2018 Jan 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2017 Jan 31, 2017 |
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BBB | 1608 | 2667 | -39.7% | 3993 | -59.7% | 1608 | 3993 | -59.7% | |
CFPB | 4925 | 3926 | 25.4% | 3768 | 30.7% | 4925 | 3768 | 30.7% | |
FDCPA | 815 | 720 | 13.2% | 821 | -0.7% | 815 | 821 | -0.7% | |
FCRA | 309 | 299 | 3.3% | 418 | -26.1% | 309 | 418 | -26.1% | |
TCPA | 315 | 285 | 10.5% | 401 | -21.4% | 315 | 401 | -21.4% |
Complaint Statistics:
1608 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4925 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1224 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jan 01, 2018 to Jan 31, 2018.
- 1608 BBB Complaints
- 4925 CFPB Complaints
- 815 FDCPA, 194 Class Action (23.8%)
- 315 TCPA, 61 Class Action (19.4%)
- 309 FCRA, 26 Class Action (8.4%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1224 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 431, or (35%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3677 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 163 different US District Court branches.
- About 706 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 99 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 65 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 55 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 44 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 38 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 34 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 29 Lawsuits: Wisconsin Eastern District Court – Milwaukee
- 28 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
- 28 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 28 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 51 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 42 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 38 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 27 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
- Representing 22 Consumers: SARAH MARGARET BARNES
- Representing 22 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 22 Consumers: AHMAD T SULAIMAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
Statistics Year to Date:
1181 total lawsuits for 2018, including:
- 815 FDCPA
- 309 FCRA
- 315 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2018: 1224 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 51 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 42 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 38 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 27 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
- Representing 22 Consumers: SARAH MARGARET BARNES
- Representing 22 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 22 Consumers: AHMAD T SULAIMAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 1608 BBB complaints against debt collectors and creditors from Jan 01, 2018 to Jan 31, 2018. That is down -39.7% from last month.
The categories of complaints filed were:
- 867 Billing/Collection Issues (54%)
- 396 Problems with Product/Service (25%)
- 196 Billing / Collection Issues (12%)
- 61 Problems with Product / Service (4%)
- 30 Advertising/Sales Issues (2%)
- 21 Delivery Issues (1%)
- 4 Advertising / Sales Issues (0%)
- 2 Guarantee/Warranty Issues (0%)
The dispositions of these complaints are:
- 969 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. (60%)
- 401 The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. (25%)
- 170 The business failed to respond to the dispute. (11%)
- 27 BBB is unable to locate the business. (2%)
- 17 The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it. (1%)
- 10 The Business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer did not accept the response, OR BBB has not heard back from the consumer as to their satisfaction. (1%)
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4925 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jan 01, 2018 to Jan 31, 2018.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 895
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1589 Other debt (32%)
- 974 I do not know (20%)
- 913 Credit card debt (19%)
- 885 Medical debt (18%)
- 161 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 132 Auto debt (3%)
- 102 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 90 Private student loan debt (2%)
- 79 Federal student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2045 Attempts to collect debt not owed (42%)
- 1283 Written notification about debt (26%)
- 555 Communication tactics (11%)
- 487 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 434 False statements or representation (9%)
- 121 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1175 Debt is not yours (24%)
- 916 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (19%)
- 452 Debt was paid (9%)
- 373 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
- 329 Debt was result of identity theft (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 615 Complaints: FL
- 580 Complaints: TX
- 526 Complaints: CA
- 306 Complaints: GA
- 288 Complaints: NY
- 202 Complaints: NC
- 189 Complaints: NJ
- 179 Complaints: IL
- 140 Complaints: OH
- 137 Complaints: PA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3786 Closed with explanation (77%)
- 578 Closed with non-monetary relief (12%)
- 374 In progress (8%)
- 163 Untimely response (3%)
- 24 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 4666 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 259 (5%) untimely responses.