Quick analysis: Summer Vacations? July Lawsuits Down
It looks like lots of consumers went to the beach instead of the courthouse last month. All three of the main statutes were down: FDCPA (-10.3%), TCPA (-27.8%) and FCRA (-13.3%), though FCRA maintains its status as the only major consumer statute growing year-over-year with a +6.5 growth rate YTD over 2020.
CFPB complaints against debt collectors did grow in July over June… but only by +3.5%, contributing to an alarming +38.2% growth rate over 2020 YTD.
In other news, putative class actions represented 20.2% of FDCPA, 56.2% of TCPA and 4.6% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 45% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before (that is the highest percentage we ever recall seeing, btw). And finally, Florida attorney Thomas John Patti from the Law Office of Jibrael S. Hindi took the top spot for representing the most consumers in June (56) while Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry kept the title of the most active consumer attorney of the year with 165 consumers represented so far in 2021.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 01, 2021 Jul 31, 2021 |
Jun 01, 2021 Jun 30, 2021 |
Jul 01, 2020 Jul 31, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2021 Jul 31, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2020 Jul 31, 2020 |
|||||
| CFPB | 6845 | 6613 | 3.5% | 4858 | 40.9% | 41691 | 30175 | 38.2% | |
| FDCPA | 559 | 623 | -10.3% | 631 | -11.4% | 3906 | 4284 | -8.8% | |
| FCRA | 436 | 503 | -13.3% | 437 | -0.2% | 3201 | 3006 | 6.5% | |
| TCPA | 130 | 180 | -27.8% | 236 | -44.9% | 1157 | 2347 | -50.7% | |
Complaint Statistics:
6845 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 962 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2021 to Jul 31, 2021.
- 6845 CFPB Complaints
- 559 FDCPA, 113 Class Action (20.2%)
- 130 TCPA, 73 Class Action (56.2%)
- 436 FCRA, 20 Class Action (4.6%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 962 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 432, or (45%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2737 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 147 different US District Court branches.
- About 636 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 64 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 58 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 57 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 52 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 47 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 46 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 43 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
- 31 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 28 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
- 23 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 56 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 50 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 34 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 27 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 27 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 27 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 25 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 19 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 17 Consumers: MATTHEW P FORSBERG
- Representing 15 Consumers: MARY ELIZABETH PHILIPPS
Statistics Year to Date:
7441 total lawsuits for 2021, including:
- 3906 FDCPA
- 3201 FCRA
- 1157 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 6955 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 165 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 146 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 127 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 119 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 117 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 102 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 102 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 98 Consumers: YOSEF STEINMETZ
- Representing 93 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 93 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 6845 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2021 to Jul 31, 2021.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 881
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 2098 Credit card debt (31%)
- 1640 I do not know (24%)
- 1561 Other debt (23%)
- 916 Medical debt (13%)
- 278 Auto debt (4%)
- 166 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 76 Mortgage debt (1%)
- 63 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 47 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 3947 Attempts to collect debt not owed (58%)
- 1618 Written notification about debt (24%)
- 455 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 405 False statements or representation (6%)
- 334 Communication tactics (5%)
- 86 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1747 Debt is not yours (26%)
- 1609 Debt was result of identity theft (24%)
- 1177 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (17%)
- 473 Debt was paid (7%)
- 405 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 812 Complaints: CA
- 808 Complaints: TX
- 688 Complaints: GA
- 676 Complaints: FL
- 372 Complaints: NY
- 287 Complaints: SC
- 263 Complaints: OH
- 243 Complaints: PA
- 232 Complaints: NC
- 185 Complaints: MD
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 5401 Closed with explanation (79%)
- 759 In progress (11%)
- 546 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 122 Untimely response (2%)
- 17 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 6657 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 188 (3%) untimely responses.