Quick analysis: Lawsuit Complaints Surge in May
After a month of stunning declines (in April) across the board in consumer litigation, the numbers came roaring back with equally stunning increases in May. The end result? Everything is pretty much back on track, in line with last year and years prior.
FDCPA had the weakest comeback, with only (!) a 20.7% increase over April. FCRA was next with a 41.7% increase, and TCPA led with a 43.5% increase.
Year-to-date, FDCPA is the only one still down a bit from this time last year, trailing 2016 by 2.3%. TCPA is up slightly, with a 1.5% YTD increase and FCRA is stealing the show so far with a 9.7% YTD increase.
After the last few years of TCPA being the most aggressive growth property, maybe the consumer bar is ready to really test new consumer reporting theories.
In contrast to consumer litigation May saw a slight dip in CFPB complaints over April, down 3.7% from last month. That is the second monthly decline in a row, though April’s decline over March was much larger at 12.7%. Even so, these two monthly declines did nothing to stem the YTD complaint explosion so far. The total complaints have increased to 26.9% over this same time last year.
Back to litigation, putative class actions were uneven last month with 24.1% of FDCPA, 13.5% of TCPA and 10.3% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 34% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, New York attorney Craig B Sanders keeps the crown another month for representing the most consumer plaintiffs (83) in May, and also for representing the most consumers year-to-date (257).
| Comparisons: | Current Period: | Previous Period: | Previous Year Comp: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 01, 2017 May 31, 2017 |
Apr 01, 2017 Apr 30, 2017 |
May 01, 2016 May 31, 2016 |
|||
| CFPB Complaints | 4012 | 4164 | -3.7% | 3107 | 29.1% |
| FDCPA lawsuits | 967 | 801 | 20.7% | 850 | 13.8% |
| FCRA lawsuits | 377 | 266 | 41.7% | 308 | 22.4% |
| TCPA lawsuits | 505 | 352 | 43.5% | 360 | 40.3% |
| YTD CFPB Complaints | 20565 | 16207 | 26.9% | ||
| YTD FDCPA lawsuits | 4360 | 4461 | -2.3% | ||
| YTD FCRA lawsuits | 1731 | 1578 | 9.7% | ||
| YTD TCPA lawsuits | 2065 | 2034 | 1.5% | ||
Complaint Statistics:
4012 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and about 1561 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from May 01, 2017 to May 31, 2017. Here is an approximate breakdown:
- 4012 CFPB Complaints
- 967 FDCPA, 233 Class Action (24.1%)
- 505 TCPA, 68 Class Action (13.5%)
- 377 FCRA, 39 Class Action (10.3%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1561 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 527, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2186 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 163 different US District Court branches.
- About 901 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 145 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 93 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 93 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
- 67 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 60 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 49 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 40 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
- 38 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 34 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
- 33 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 83 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 46 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 41 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 38 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 33 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 32 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 32 Consumers: WILLIAM PEERCE HOWARD
- Representing 31 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 27 Consumers: SEYED ABBAS KAZEROUNIAN
- Representing 26 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
Statistics Year to Date:
6799 total lawsuits for 2017, including:
- 4360 FDCPA
- 1731 FCRA
- 2065 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2017: 6578 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 257 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 200 Consumers: AHMAD TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 189 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 171 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 171 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 166 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 157 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 127 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 126 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 102 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4012 complaints filed against debt collectors from May 01, 2017 to May 31, 2017.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 832
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1216 Other debt (30%)
- 775 I do not know (19%)
- 759 Credit card debt (19%)
- 714 Medical debt (18%)
- 152 Payday loan debt (4%)
- 127 Mortgage debt (3%)
- 125 Auto debt (3%)
- 77 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 67 Private student loan debt (2%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1663 Attempts to collect debt not owed (41%)
- 964 Written notification about debt (24%)
- 460 Communication tactics (11%)
- 420 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
- 383 False statements or representation (10%)
- 122 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)
The top five subissues were:
- 899 Debt is not yours (22%)
- 654 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (16%)
- 435 Debt was paid (11%)
- 313 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)
- 284 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 467 Complaints: TX
- 426 Complaints: CA
- 390 Complaints: FL
- 293 Complaints: GA
- 237 Complaints: NY
- 187 Complaints:
- 129 Complaints: NC
- 122 Complaints: IL
- 111 Complaints: OH
- 103 Complaints: NJ
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 4012 (100%)
This includes 3815 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 197 (5%) untimely responses.
Of the company responses, consumers accepted (%) of them, disputed (%) of them, and (%) were N\A.
The top five days for complaints were:
- 208 Complaints: Tue, 05/16/2017
- 205 Complaints: Tue, 05/09/2017
- 203 Complaints: Wed, 05/03/2017
- 203 Complaints: Wed, 05/10/2017
- 185 Complaints: Tue, 05/02/2017