Quick analysis: Everything litigation-related moved up in July for the first time since January. FDCPA, TCPA and FCRA were all up between 11%-16% over the previous month. YTD, all three either increased their percentages over 2018 (FCRA from from +2% to +6.5%) or decreased their negative percentages (FDCPA from -7.5% to -7% and TCPA from -12.7% to -12.4%). Even CFPB complaints, which did decrease from June (-8.6% at the moment, but those numbers are not settled yet) decreased their YTD percentage from -18.1% in June to -16.7% in July.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 01, 2019 Jul 31, 2019 |
Jun 01, 2019 Jun 30, 2019 |
Jul 01, 2018 Jul 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2019 Jul 31, 2019 |
Jan 01, 2018 Jul 31, 2018 |
|||||
| CFPB | 3741 | 4091 | -8.6% | 4037 | -7.3% | 27344 | 32822 | -16.7% | |
| FDCPA | 700 | 607 | 15.3% | 732 | -4.4% | 5090 | 5474 | -7.0% | |
| FCRA | 510 | 442 | 15.4% | 381 | 33.9% | 2882 | 2705 | 6.5% | |
| TCPA | 285 | 256 | 11.3% | 319 | -10.7% | 2053 | 2344 | -12.4% | |
Here’s a fun new chart. Tracking FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA litigation through the years, but only for the first seven months of each year (Jan 1-July 31). Looking at this, it is easy to see where the momentum is now and where it has been in the past.
In other news, putative class actions were typical last month with 22.3% of FDCPA, 33% of TCPA and 3.7% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 35% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, Texas attorney Jonathan Forrest Raburn surged back into the top spot eleven months after his first showing there, representing more consumers (107) than anyone else last month (by far), all of them multi-plaintiff FCRA cases. New York attorney Craig B. Sanders is still at the top of the list YTD with 279 consumers represented.
Complaint Statistics:
3741 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1264 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2019 to Jul 31, 2019.
- 3741 CFPB Complaints
- 700 FDCPA, 156 Class Action (22.3%)
- 285 TCPA, 94 Class Action (33.0%)
- 510 FCRA, 19 Class Action (3.7%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1264 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 444, or (35%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2899 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 168 different US District Court branches.
- About 745 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 65 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 64 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 54 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 45 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 43 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 42 Lawsuits: Delaware District Court – Wilmington
- 33 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 30 Lawsuits: Kentucky Western District Court – Louisville
- 29 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
- 28 Lawsuits: Texas Eastern District Court – Sherman
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 107 Consumers: JONATHAN FORREST RABURN
- Representing 54 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 41 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 37 Consumers: DENNIS DEAN MCCARTY
- Representing 37 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 26 Consumers: MITCHELL L PASHKIN
- Representing 25 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 24 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 23 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 21 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
Statistics Year to Date:
8473 total lawsuits for 2019, including:
- 5090 FDCPA
- 2882 FCRA
- 2053 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2019: 8181 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 279 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 253 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 206 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 202 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 185 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 171 Consumers: JONATHAN FORREST RABURN
- Representing 156 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 152 Consumers: MITCHELL L PASHKIN
- Representing 145 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 142 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 3741 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2019 to Jul 31, 2019.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 775
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1025 Other debt (27%)
- 904 Credit card debt (24%)
- 808 I do not know (22%)
- 601 Medical debt (16%)
- 126 Auto debt (3%)
- 106 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 74 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 51 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 46 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1822 Attempts to collect debt not owed (49%)
- 757 Written notification about debt (20%)
- 411 Communication tactics (11%)
- 336 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
- 298 False statements or representation (8%)
- 117 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 926 Debt is not yours (25%)
- 502 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (13%)
- 490 Debt was result of identity theft (13%)
- 342 Debt was paid (9%)
- 249 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 509 Complaints: TX
- 463 Complaints: CA
- 386 Complaints: FL
- 281 Complaints: GA
- 214 Complaints: NY
- 111 Complaints: NJ
- 108 Complaints: NC
- 105 Complaints: IL
- 103 Complaints: VA
- 95 Complaints: OH
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 2896 Closed with explanation (77%)
- 425 In progress (11%)
- 307 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 96 Untimely response (3%)
- 17 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 3600 (96%) timely responses to complaints, and 141 (4%) untimely responses.