Quick analysis:
After an April of across-the-board drops in consumer complaint activity, May 2018 saw a bit of a rebound in every category except for CFPB complaints. But give those a week or two for the stragglers to come in, and we suspect those will be up as well.
Notably, FDCPA is up 10.4% and TCPA is up 23.5% – both statutes have had a rough year with declines much more common than increases. FCRA is up a huge 52.5%, which we will explain in a moment.
In other news, putative class actions were mixed last month with 25.4% of FDCPA, 27.6% of TCPA and 5.5% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 31% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, Southern California attorney Jeffrey N. Wilens dominated the month by representing a total of 149 consumers between three separate lawsuits filed on May 31 against Equifax. This is part of the reason FCRA suits are up a whopping 52.5% over April, but even without all of this activity FCRA would have been up almost 10%. The next most active attorney was New York’s Craig B Sanders, a frequent occupier of the top spot with 69 consumers represented for the month. Mr. Sanders has represented 288 consumers in 2018, making him the most active consumer attorney YTD.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 01, 2018 May 31, 2018 |
Apr 01, 2018 Apr 30, 2018 |
May 01, 2017 May 31, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2018 May 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2017 May 31, 2017 |
|||||
| BBB | 3211 | 2443 | 31.4% | 6037 | -46.8% | 15998 | 30991 | -48.4% | |
| CFPB | 4733 | 4773 | -0.8% | 4203 | 12.6% | 24254 | 20854 | 16.3% | |
| FDCPA | 795 | 720 | 10.4% | 972 | -18.2% | 3962 | 4361 | -9.1% | |
| FCRA | 511 | 335 | 52.5% | 378 | 35.2% | 1947 | 1733 | 12.3% | |
| TCPA | 410 | 332 | 23.5% | 506 | -19.0% | 1696 | 2062 | -17.7% | |
Complaint Statistics:
3211 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4733 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1449 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from May 01, 2018 to May 31, 2018.
- 3211 BBB Complaints
- 4733 CFPB Complaints
- 795 FDCPA, 202 Class Action (25.4%)
- 410 TCPA, 113 Class Action (27.6%)
- 511 FCRA, 28 Class Action (5.5%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1449 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 445, or (31%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2482 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 175 different US District Court branches.
- About 807 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 119 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 57 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 56 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 52 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 43 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 41 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 41 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 38 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 30 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 28 Lawsuits: Wisconsin Eastern District Court – Milwaukee
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 149 Consumers: JEFFREY N WILENS
- Representing 68 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 39 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 38 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 32 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 32 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 29 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
- Representing 26 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 22 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
Statistics Year to Date:
6102 total lawsuits for 2018, including:
- 3962 FDCPA
- 1947 FCRA
- 1696 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2018: 6180 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 288 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 197 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 186 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 183 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 169 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 149 Consumers: JEFFREY N WILENS
- Representing 138 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
- Representing 131 Consumers: THOMAS J CONNICK
- Representing 107 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 101 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 3211 BBB complaints against debt collectors and creditors from May 01, 2018 to May 31, 2018. That is up 31.4% from last month.
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4733 complaints filed against debt collectors from May 01, 2018 to May 31, 2018.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 869
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1362 Other debt (29%)
- 1208 Credit card debt (26%)
- 914 I do not know (19%)
- 704 Medical debt (15%)
- 142 Auto debt (3%)
- 142 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 104 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 81 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 76 Private student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2001 Attempts to collect debt not owed (42%)
- 1328 Written notification about debt (28%)
- 510 Communication tactics (11%)
- 419 False statements or representation (9%)
- 354 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 121 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1100 Debt is not yours (23%)
- 985 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (21%)
- 403 Debt was paid (9%)
- 402 Debt was result of identity theft (8%)
- 353 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 595 Complaints: TX
- 501 Complaints: FL
- 466 Complaints: CA
- 279 Complaints: NY
- 279 Complaints: GA
- 174 Complaints: IL
- 149 Complaints: OH
- 145 Complaints: NJ
- 143 Complaints:
- 137 Complaints: PA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3657 Closed with explanation (77%)
- 560 Closed with non-monetary relief (12%)
- 342 In progress (7%)
- 149 Untimely response (3%)
- 25 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 4498 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 235 (5%) untimely responses.