WebRecon Stats for Sept 2020: Another mixed bag…

Quick analysis: Another mixed bag…

CFPB complaints and TCPA suits are down (-.6% and -23.6% respectively) while FDCPA and FCRA suits are up (+8.5% and +9.3% respectively) for September 2020. Year to date the picture shakes out a little differently, with CFPB complaints and FDCPA suits both down for the year (-3.9% and -15.5% respectively) while FCRA and TCPA suits are both up for the year (+3.8% and -+5.7% respectively).

Soooo…. the muddled messaging from plaintiffs continues. Notable last month… FDCPA had a rare mini-surge of activity, TCPA had an uncommonly large tumble. The clear winner in consumer litigation continues to be the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which has been the most consistently increasingly used consumer statute of the last couple of years.

In other news, putative class actions represented 15.1% of FDCPA, 43% of TCPA and 3.3% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month.

About 33% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.

And finally, we have a first – a bicoastal dominance for the month with New York attorney Edward Y. Kroub (making his debut at the top of our list), tied with California attorney Todd M. Friedman (who hasn’t topped our list in ages) each representing 34 consumers in September. New York’s Craig B. Sanders still has filed the most for the year with 271 consumers represented. That YTD stat excludes attorneys Nicole Rochelle Lewis and Rebecca Evans who crammed hundreds of plaintiffs into a few TCPA lawsuits earlier this year.

Complaint Statistics:

4770 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1068 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Sep 01, 2020 to Sep 30, 2020.

• 4770 CFPB Complaints
• 577 FDCPA, 87 Class Action (15.1%)
• 172 TCPA, 74 Class Action (43.0%)
• 458 FCRA, 15 Class Action (3.3%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1068 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 352, or (33%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2459 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 160 different US District Court branches.
• About 734 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 65 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 47 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 42 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 42 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 39 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 36 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 31 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 31 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 26 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 24 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 34 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 34 Consumers: EDWARD Y KROUB
• Representing 29 Consumers: JOSHUA P WARD
• Representing 26 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
• Representing 20 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 19 Consumers: JOHN THOMAS STEINKAMP
• Representing 18 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 17 Consumers: YOSEF STEINMETZ
• Representing 17 Consumers: LARRY PAUL SMITH
• Representing 16 Consumers: DAVID M MARCO

Statistics Year to Date:
9893 total lawsuits for 2020, including:

• 5392 FDCPA
• 3883 FCRA
• 2743 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2020: 9917 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 361 Consumers: REBECCA EVANS
• Representing 271 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 238 Consumers: NICOLE ROCHELLE LEWIS
• Representing 221 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 192 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 184 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 176 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
• Representing 167 Consumers: EDWARD Y KROUB
• Representing 155 Consumers: MICHAEL ZHANG
• Representing 136 Consumers: JOSEPH SCOTT DAVIDSON

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4770 complaints filed against debt collectors from Sep 01, 2020 to Sep 30, 2020.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 773

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1304 Credit card debt (27%)
• 1246 Other debt (26%)
• 1062 I do not know (22%)
• 695 Medical debt (15%)
• 205 Auto debt (4%)
• 124 Payday loan debt (3%)
• 68 Mortgage debt (1%)
• 34 Federal student loan debt (1%)
• 32 Private student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 2562 Attempts to collect debt not owed (54%)
• 1101 Written notification about debt (23%)
• 352 False statements or representation (7%)
• 350 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
• 324 Communication tactics (7%)
• 81 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1206 Debt is not yours (25%)
• 851 Debt was result of identity theft (18%)
• 849 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (18%)
• 438 Debt was paid (9%)
• 300 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 649 Complaints: TX
• 475 Complaints:
• 468 Complaints: CA
• 455 Complaints: FL
• 329 Complaints: GA
• 304 Complaints: NY
• 127 Complaints: PA
• 112 Complaints: OH
• 110 Complaints: NC
• 104 Complaints: MA

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

• 3946 Closed with explanation (83%)
• 396 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
• 322 In progress (7%)
• 86 Untimely response (2%)
• 20 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 4605 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 165 (3%) untimely responses.