Quick analysis: In the month of November, every type of complaint that was down for the month is up for the year, and vice versa. Sort of like the Bizarro version of the monthly stats!
Other than that, all of the complaint types seem to be more or less sticking to the script for the month. BBB complaints dropped by -22.6% over October (though early results tend to be low so it may be adjusted next month), CFPB complaints were surprisingly down -12.1%, FDCPA and TCPA were up (+6% and +17.6, respectively) and FCRA complaints dropped by -4.9%.
No huge year-to-date surprises in November 2017… FDCPA and TCPA are down YTD (-5.7% and -8.6% respectively), FCRA is up (+9.9%), BBB complaints are running close to last year (+1.9%) and CFPB complaints hit it out of the park (+19.7%)
Back to litigation…
Putative class actions were mixed last month with 25% of FDCPA, 20.1% of TCPA and 9.5% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
A very high 38% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before, resuming the trend of increased serial litigators.
And finally, New York attorney Craig B. Sanders retained the crown as the most active consumer attorney this month by representing 91 consumers in November and for representing the most consumers year-to-date (540).
*** Be sure to check us out next month for the full year 2017 roundup. ***
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 01, 2017 Nov 30, 2017 |
Oct 01, 2017 Oct 31, 2017 |
Nov 01, 2016 Nov 30, 2016 |
Jan 01, 2017 Nov 30, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2016 Nov 30, 2016 |
|||||
| BBB | 2242 | 2898 | -22.6% | 2857 | -21.5% | 35141 | 34480 | 1.9% | |
| CFPB | 3575 | 4067 | -12.1% | 3334 | 7.2% | 44758 | 37383 | 19.7% | |
| FDCPA | 791 | 746 | 6.0% | 739 | 7.0% | 9072 | 9619 | -5.7% | |
| FCRA | 349 | 367 | -4.9% | 390 | -10.5% | 4046 | 3680 | 9.9% | |
| TCPA | 348 | 296 | 17.6% | 330 | 5.5% | 4107 | 4491 | -8.6% | |
Complaint Statistics:
2242 consumers filed BBB complaints, 3575 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1275 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Nov 01, 2017 to Nov 30, 2017.
- 2242 BBB Complaints
- 3575 CFPB Complaints
- 791 FDCPA, 198 Class Action (25.0%)
- 348 TCPA, 70 Class Action (20.1%)
- 349 FCRA, 33 Class Action (9.5%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1275 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 486, or (38%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2071 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 170 different US District Court branches.
- About 743 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 117 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 98 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 62 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 53 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 51 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 34 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 33 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 33 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 32 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 29 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 91 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 45 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 43 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 42 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 42 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 26 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 22 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 21 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
Statistics Year to Date:
14306 total lawsuits for 2017, including:
- 9072 FDCPA
- 4046 FCRA
- 4107 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2017: 13471 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 540 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 423 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 378 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 325 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 317 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 311 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 298 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 262 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 251 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 250 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 2242 BBB complaints against debt collectors and creditors from Nov 01, 2017 to Nov 30, 2017. That is down -22.6% from last month.
The categories of complaints filed were:
- 1131 Billing/Collection Issues (50%)
- 928 Problems with Product/Service (41%)
- 106 Advertising/Sales Issues (5%)
- 48 Delivery Issues (2%)
- 15 (1%)
- 14 Guarantee/Warranty Issues (1%)
The dispositions of these complaints are:
- 1390 The Business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer did not accept the response, OR BBB has not heard back from the consumer as to their satisfaction. (62%)
- 490 The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. (22%)
- 212 (9%)
- 123 The business failed to respond to the dispute. (5%)
- 15 BBB is unable to locate the business. (1%)
- 12 The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it. (1%)
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 3575 complaints filed against debt collectors from Nov 01, 2017 to Nov 30, 2017.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 816
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1135 Other debt (32%)
- 753 I do not know (21%)
- 649 Credit card debt (18%)
- 549 Medical debt (15%)
- 133 Auto debt (4%)
- 129 Payday loan debt (4%)
- 103 Mortgage debt (3%)
- 64 Private student loan debt (2%)
- 60 Federal student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1519 Attempts to collect debt not owed (42%)
- 818 Written notification about debt (23%)
- 489 Communication tactics (14%)
- 338 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
- 324 False statements or representation (9%)
- 87 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 882 Debt is not yours (25%)
- 623 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (17%)
- 332 Debt was paid (9%)
- 280 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
- 271 Frequent or repeated calls (8%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 423 Complaints: TX
- 408 Complaints: CA
- 354 Complaints: FL
- 204 Complaints: GA
- 174 Complaints: NY
- 137 Complaints:
- 124 Complaints: NJ
- 124 Complaints: OH
- 119 Complaints: IL
- 112 Complaints: NC
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 2763 Closed with explanation (77%)
- 376 Closed with non-monetary relief (11%)
- 269 In progress (8%)
- 136 Untimely response (4%)
- 31 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 3357 (94%) timely responses to complaints, and 218 (6%) untimely responses.