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Quick analysis: What’s up with CFPB Complaints?

March was a robust month in consumer complaints, with FDCPA, TCPA and FCRA all easily exceeding February and keeping us within a percent or two of last year’s numbers – with the exception of this year’s second breakout month for FCRA (there have only been three months so far!) setting it more than 50% ahead of last month and almost 20% ahead of where we were last year.

The real story, however, seems to be in March’s CFPB complaint numbers. With over 4500 complaints filed against debt collectors and credit reporting agencies, we are 14.1% ahead of Feb and 25.3% ahead of where we were at this time last year. With the threat of severe CFPB reform on the horizon, are people starting to worry that they may lose their opportunity to have their voices heard?

Back to litigation, putative class actions are about normal with 15.8% of FDCPA, 20.9% of TCPA and only 8.9% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.

About 34% of all plaintiffs who filed in February had filed at least once before.

And finally, Atlanta attorney Matthew Thomas Berry takes the crown for representing the most consumer plaintiffs (49) in March, while Los Angeles attorney Todd M. Friedman retains the crown for representing the most consumers year-to-date (137).

Comparisons: Current Period: Previous Period: Previous Year Comp:
Mar 01, 2017
Mar 31, 2017		 Feb 01, 2017
Feb 28, 2017		 Mar 01, 2016
Mar 31, 2016
CFPB Complaints  4544 3982 14.1% 3580 26.9%
FDCPA lawsuits  941 828 13.6% 1011 -6.9%
FCRA lawsuits  406 265 53.2% 341 19.1%
TCPA lawsuits  430 376 14.4% 472 -8.9%
YTD CFPB Complaints  12293 9809 25.3%
YTD FDCPA lawsuits  2591 2617 -1.0%
YTD FCRA lawsuits  1087 910 19.5%
YTD TCPA lawsuits  1208 1232 -1.9%

 

Complaint Statistics:

4544 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1509 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Mar 01, 2017 to Mar 31, 2017. Here is an approximate breakdown:

  • 4544 CFPB Complaints
  • 941 FDCPA, 149 Class Action (15.8%)
  • 430 TCPA, 90 Class Action (20.9%)
  • 406 FCRA, 36 Class Action (8.9%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

  • Of those cases, there were about 1509 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
  • Of those plaintiffs, about 510, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
  • Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3353 lawsuits since 2001
  • Actions were filed in 160 different US District Court branches.
  • About 974 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

  • 102 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
  • 75 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
  • 71 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
  • 62 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Los Angeles
  • 56 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
  • 55 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
  • 48 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
  • 46 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
  • 42 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
  • 35 Lawsuits: Wisconsin Eastern District Court – Milwaukee

The most active consumer attorneys were:

  • Representing 49 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
  • Representing 42 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
  • Representing 42 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
  • Representing 40 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
  • Representing 34 Consumers: AMY LYNN BENNECOFF GINSBURG
  • Representing 34 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
  • Representing 33 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
  • Representing 32 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
  • Representing 30 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
  • Representing 30 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN

Statistics Year to Date:
4112 total lawsuits for 2017, including:

  • 2591 FDCPA
  • 1087 FCRA
  • 1208 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2017: 4072 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

  • Representing 137 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
  • Representing 123 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
  • Representing 113 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
  • Representing 111 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
  • Representing 111 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
  • Representing 99 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
  • Representing 95 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
  • Representing 93 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
  • Representing 72 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
  • Representing 71 Consumers: ELLIOT WAYNE GALE

——————————————————————————————————-
CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4544 complaints filed against debt collectors from Mar 01, 2017 to Mar 31, 2017.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 926

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

  • 1556 Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.) (34%)
  • 882 Medical (19%)
  • 824 Credit card (18%)
  • 758 I do not know (17%)
  • 149 Payday loan (3%)
  • 135 Auto (3%)
  • 94 Mortgage (2%)
  • 84 Non-federal student loan (2%)
  • 62 Federal student loan (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

  • 1890 Contd attempts collect debt not owed (42%)
  • 1373 Disclosure verification of debt (30%)
  • 466 Communication tactics (10%)
  • 347 False statements or representation (8%)
  • 256 Improper contact or sharing of info (6%)
  • 212 Taking/threatening an illegal action (5%)

The top five subissues were:

  • 1042 Debt is not mine (23%)
  • 1022 Not given enough info to verify debt (22%)
  • 554 Debt was paid (12%)
  • 296 Right to dispute notice not received (7%)
  • 273 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

  • 579 Complaints: CA
  • 533 Complaints: TX
  • 441 Complaints: FL
  • 304 Complaints: GA
  • 226 Complaints: NY
  • 161 Complaints: NC
  • 147 Complaints: IL
  • 142 Complaints: OH
  • 141 Complaints: NJ
  • 133 Complaints: PA

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

  • 4544 (100%)

This includes 4251 (94%) timely responses to complaints, and 293 (6%) untimely responses.

Of the company responses, consumers accepted 0 (%) of them, disputed 672 (15%) of them, and 3872 (85%) were N\A.

The top five days for complaints were:

  • 233 Complaints: Tue, 03/21/2017
  • 222 Complaints: Wed, 03/15/2017
  • 211 Complaints: Tue, 03/14/2017
  • 199 Complaints: Thu, 03/30/2017
  • 197 Complaints: Wed, 03/22/2017

 

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