Quick analysis: Up for the month… mostly down for the year.
As the year is getting ready to draw to a close, the trends that have been apparent from early on seem to be cementing in. Lawsuits have been up and down a lot this year, but the overall YTD trend has been pretty clear that FDCPA will drop a bit (-6.1%), FCRA will increase a bit (+3.7%), and TCPA – shockingly – will be down for the second year in a row, possibly by double digits (it is down -12.1% so far for the year.)
BBB and BCFP numbers are both up YTD by pretty significant margins (+8.6% and +9.3%, respectively.) Ignore the BBB monthly drop as not all of the data is in yet.
In other news, putative class actions were higher than normal last month with 22.3% of FDCPA, 32.4% of TCPA and 11.3% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 32% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, Chicago attorney Nathan Volheim represented more consumers than anyone else in October (33) while New York attorney Craig Sanders has represented more consumers than any other attorney all year (441), retaining the title of most active consumer attorney of the year. Incidentally. Mr. Volheim is second on that list, having represented 352 consumer YTD.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 01, 2018 Oct 31, 2018 |
Sep 01, 2018 Sep 30, 2018 |
Oct 01, 2017 Oct 31, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2018 Oct 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2017 Oct 31, 2017 |
|||||
| BBB | 3179 | 5406 | -41.2% | 4993 | -36.3% | 50269 | 46284 | 8.6% | |
| BCFP | 4082 | 3712 | 10.0% | 4075 | 0.2% | 45051 | 41203 | 9.3% | |
| FDCPA | 737 | 638 | 15.5% | 744 | -0.9% | 7755 | 8259 | -6.1% | |
| FCRA | 354 | 339 | 4.4% | 368 | -3.8% | 3830 | 3695 | 3.7% | |
| TCPA | 340 | 248 | 37.1% | 295 | 15.3% | 3294 | 3749 | -12.1% | |
Complaint Statistics:
3179 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4082 consumers filed BCFP complaints, and about 1256 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Oct 01, 2018 to Oct 31, 2018.
- 3179 BBB Complaints
- 4082 BCFP Complaints
- 737 FDCPA, 164 Class Action (22.3%)
- 340 TCPA, 110 Class Action (32.4%)
- 354 FCRA, 40 Class Action (11.3%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and BCFP data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1256 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 398, or (32%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2178 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 175 different US District Court branches.
- About 795 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
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The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 60 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 44 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 42 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 42 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 38 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 34 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 31 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 31 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – West Palm Beach
- 29 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 27 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 33 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 31 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 28 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 26 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 25 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 22 Consumers: MARY E PHILIPPS
- Representing 22 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 21 Consumers: KRISTI CAHOON KELLY
- Representing 21 Consumers: ANGIE K ROBERTSON
Statistics Year to Date:
12215 total lawsuits for 2018, including:
- 7755 FDCPA
- 3830 FCRA
- 3294 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2018: 11840 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 441 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 352 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 326 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 274 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 248 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 212 Consumers: ELLIOT GALE
- Representing 190 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 189 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 175 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 172 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 3179 BBB complaints from Oct 01, 2018 to Oct 31, 2018. That is down -41.2% from last month.
The types of companies being complained about were:
- 1836 collections-agencies (58%)
- 1133 banks (36%)
- 210 credit+reporting (7%)
The categories of complaints filed were:
- 2012 Billing/Collection Issues (63%)
- 1061 Problems with Product/Service (33%)
- 64 Advertising/Sales Issues (2%)
- 32 Delivery Issues (1%)
- 10 Guarantee/Warranty Issues (0%)
The dispositions of these complaints are:
- 2269 The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction. (71%)
- 711 The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. (22%)
- 146 The business failed to respond to the dispute. (5%)
- 27 The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it. (1%)
- 26 BBB is unable to locate the business. (1%)
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BCFP Complaint Statistics:
There were 4082 complaints filed against debt collectors from Oct 01, 2018 to Oct 31, 2018.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 850
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1221 Other debt (30%)
- 907 Credit card debt (22%)
- 848 I do not know (21%)
- 595 Medical debt (15%)
- 159 Auto debt (4%)
- 131 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 104 Mortgage debt (3%)
- 75 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 42 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1850 Attempts to collect debt not owed (45%)
- 821 Written notification about debt (20%)
- 526 Communication tactics (13%)
- 392 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 377 False statements or representation (9%)
- 116 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1002 Debt is not yours (25%)
- 582 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (14%)
- 400 Debt was paid (10%)
- 360 Debt was result of identity theft (9%)
- 306 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 490 Complaints: TX
- 442 Complaints: CA
- 407 Complaints: FL
- 217 Complaints: GA
- 203 Complaints: NY
- 197 Complaints: IL
- 136 Complaints: OH
- 135 Complaints: NJ
- 127 Complaints: AZ
- 121 Complaints: PA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3179 Closed with explanation (78%)
- 488 Closed with non-monetary relief (12%)
- 257 In progress (6%)
- 136 Untimely response (3%)
- 22 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 3893 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 189 (5%) untimely responses.