WebRecon Stats for July 2018: Summer Doldrums Continue (for Plaintiffs)

Quick analysis: Quick analysis: Summer Doldrums Continue (for Plaintiffs)

With the exception of a minor (+1.6%) bump in FCRA claims, everything was down in July again. FDCPA and TCPA (-6.0%, -2.1% respectively) and CFPB complaints (-7.2%) all continued in their sluggish performance from June.

Year-to-date, FCRA is still the only statute that is up for the year, +11.7% over this time in 2017. CFPB complaints are up as well, +13.4% over 2017. FDCPA and TCPA are both down, -7.8% and 15.9%, respectively. Interestingly enough, all three of the main statutes are up over the same month last year, just not the entire year to date (except FCRA of course).

In other news, putative class actions were mixed last month with 22.3% of FDCPA, 24.8% of TCPA and 4.2% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.

About 34% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.

And finally, Las Vegas attorney David H. Krieger knocked both Nathan Volheim and Craig B. Sanders out of the way to take the month by representing a total of 39 consumers. New York attorney Craig B. Sanders still retains the title of most active consumer attorney of the year though, with 333 represented consumers so far in 2018.

Note: We have temporarily removed BBB complaints from the grid, as we are experiencing some difficulties with their site. We should have everything updated and back in place by next month.

Complaint Statistics:

20 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4007 consumers filed BCFP complaints, and about 1255 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2018 to Jul 31, 2018.

• 20 BBB Complaints
• 4007 BCFP Complaints
• 731 FDCPA, 163 Class Action (22.3%)
• 319 TCPA, 79 Class Action (24.8%)
• 381 FCRA, 16 Class Action (4.2%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and BCFP data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1255 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 430, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1968 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 158 different US District Court branches.
• About 798 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 87 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 55 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 47 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 46 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 43 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 40 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 35 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 33 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 30 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 28 Lawsuits: California Eastern District Court – Sacramento

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 39 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 29 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 28 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 27 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
• Representing 21 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
• Representing 20 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
• Representing 20 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
• Representing 19 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
• Representing 19 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 18 Consumers: JOSEPH SCOTT DAVIDSON

Statistics Year to Date:
8556 total lawsuits for 2018, including:

• 5473 FDCPA
• 2704 FCRA
• 2344 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2018: 8542 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 333 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 252 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 234 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
• Representing 230 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
• Representing 188 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
• Representing 174 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
• Representing 167 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 149 Consumers: JEFFREY N WILENS
• Representing 135 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
• Representing 135 Consumers: OMAR TAYSEER SULAIMAN

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BCFP Complaint Statistics:

There were 4007 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2018 to Jul 31, 2018.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 842

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1153 Other debt (29%)
• 888 I do not know (22%)
• 876 Credit card debt (22%)
• 615 Medical debt (15%)
• 124 Auto debt (3%)
• 122 Payday loan debt (3%)
• 91 Mortgage debt (2%)
• 80 Private student loan debt (2%)
• 58 Federal student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1705 Attempts to collect debt not owed (43%)
• 1004 Written notification about debt (25%)
• 460 Communication tactics (11%)
• 371 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
• 344 False statements or representation (9%)
• 123 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)

The top five subissues were:

• 877 Debt is not yours (22%)
• 757 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (19%)
• 418 Debt was result of identity theft (10%)
• 338 Debt was paid (8%)
• 280 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 609 Complaints: TX
• 437 Complaints: CA
• 400 Complaints: FL
• 210 Complaints: NY
• 202 Complaints: GA
• 168 Complaints: IL
• 141 Complaints: OH
• 122 Complaints: NC
• 117 Complaints: MI
• 113 Complaints: PA

The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:

• 3157 Closed with explanation (79%)
• 485 Closed with non-monetary relief (12%)
• 212 In progress (5%)
• 117 Untimely response (3%)
• 36 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 3802 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 205 (5%) untimely responses.