Quick analysis: Yep. TCPA.
It looks like TCPA will end down from the previous year for the first time since, well, ever. Sitting at 3758 (at the end of Oct) with two months to go in 2017, it is really hard to see how TCPA makes up ground to surpass 2015’s record total of 4855 suits. With 1097 suits separating us from last year’s record and 2017’s average of 376 TCPA plaintiffs per month, it just doesn’t seem possible. We’ll see…
Beyond that, FDCPA had a rare “up” month, rising 3.3% over Sept but still down 6.8% from last year. And FCRA continues to be the star of 2017. Even though it was down by a lot (34.1%) from last month’s crazy high of 557, it is still 12.3% up over last year’s record high of 3291 for the first ten months of the year.
We are still getting a handle on the flow of BBB complaints so don’t read much into the wild swings month-to-month yet. October’s 2421 complaints is a solid number, and it is likely to go up a bit when all the data is in. For reference, Jan-Sept averaged 2930 complaints each month.
And finally, CFPB complaints continue their mad dash to a new record high, up 12.2% over last month and 20.5% over this time last year.
Back to litigation…
Putative class actions were sky high last month with 24.4% of FDCPA and 24.1% of TCPA class action lawsuits. An insane 24% of FCRA lawsuits were filed.
About 32% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, New York attorney Craig B. Sanders took back the crown as the most active consumer attorney this month by representing 38 consumers in October and for representing the most consumers year-to-date (449).
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 01, 2017 Oct 31, 2017 |
Sep 01, 2017 Sep 30, 2017 |
Oct 01, 2016 Oct 31, 2016 |
Jan 01, 2017 Oct 31, 2017 |
Jan 01, 2016 Oct 31, 2016 |
|||||
| BBB | 2421 | 3110 | -22.2% | 2592 | -6.6% | 29301 | 28032 | 4.5% | |
| CFPB | 4010 | 3573 | 12.2% | 3619 | 10.8% | 41044 | 34049 | 20.5% | |
| FDCPA | 746 | 722 | 3.3% | 851 | -12.3% | 8279 | 8883 | -6.8% | |
| FCRA | 367 | 557 | -34.1% | 359 | 2.2% | 3696 | 3291 | 12.3% | |
| TCPA | 295 | 297 | -0.7% | 455 | -35.2% | 3758 | 4163 | -9.7% | |
Complaint Statistics:
2421 consumers filed BBB complaints, 4010 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1274 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Oct 01, 2017 to Oct 31, 2017.
- 2421 BBB Complaints
- 4010 CFPB Complaints
- 746 FDCPA, 182 Class Action (24.4%)
- 295 TCPA, 71 Class Action (24.1%)
- 367 FCRA, 88 Class Action (24.0%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for BBB and CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1274 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 412, or (32%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2397 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 165 different US District Court branches.
- About 749 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 108 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 60 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 58 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 57 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 56 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 40 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 37 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 36 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
- 35 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 27 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 38 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 30 Consumers: JOHN W ADAMS
- Representing 30 Consumers: JOHN D BLYTHIN
- Representing 27 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 23 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 22 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 21 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 21 Consumers: MARK A ELDRIDGE
Statistics Year to Date:
13039 total lawsuits for 2017, including:
- 8279 FDCPA
- 3696 FCRA
- 3758 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2017: 12425 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 449 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 380 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 333 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 303 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 296 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 286 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 272 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 236 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 209 Consumers: MICHAEL JACOB WOOD
- Representing 208 Consumers: CELETHA CHATMAN
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BBB Complaint Statistics:
There were a total of 2421 BBB complaints against debt collectors and creditors from Oct 01, 2017 to Oct 31, 2017. That is down -22.2% from last month.
The categories of complaints filed were:
- 1334 Billing/Collection Issues (55%)
- 917 Problems with Product/Service (38%)
- 98 Advertising/Sales Issues (4%)
- 46 Delivery Issues (2%)
- 18 Guarantee/Warranty Issues (1%)
- 8 (0%)
The dispositions of these complaints are:
- 1682 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. (69%)
- 524 The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. (22%)
- 140 The business failed to respond to the dispute. (6%)
- 36 (1%)
- 23 BBB is unable to locate the business. (1%)
- 16 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 4010 complaints filed against debt collectors from Oct 01, 2017 to Oct 31, 2017.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 838
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1292 Other debt (32%)
- 800 I do not know (20%)
- 703 Medical debt (18%)
- 696 Credit card debt (17%)
- 132 Auto debt (3%)
- 118 Mortgage debt (3%)
- 117 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 89 Private student loan debt (2%)
- 63 Federal student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1625 Attempts to collect debt not owed (41%)
- 1019 Written notification about debt (25%)
- 491 Communication tactics (12%)
- 394 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 378 False statements or representation (9%)
- 103 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 925 Debt is not yours (23%)
- 759 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (19%)
- 368 Debt was paid (9%)
- 305 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
- 258 Frequent or repeated calls (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 486 Complaints: CA
- 421 Complaints: TX
- 408 Complaints: FL
- 259 Complaints: GA
- 237 Complaints: NY
- 151 Complaints: NC
- 134 Complaints: IL
- 128 Complaints: NJ
- 114 Complaints: PA
- 110 Complaints: OH
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3154 Closed with explanation (79%)
- 346 In progress (9%)
- 342 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
- 137 Untimely response (3%)
- 31 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 3803 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 207 (5%) untimely responses.