WebRecon Reports Collections Litigation is Down

Litigation decreased across the board in June for FDCPA, TCPA and FCRA claims, according to the latest report from WebRecon.

WebRecon’s latest report shows litigation increased across the board in June in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act claims after a ramp up in May.

Quick analysis: Another “Down” Month

Alright, this is kind of funny. The numbers have been swinging pretty wildly this year so far, because I just looked over the headlines of each month’s blog post and this is what they say:

Jan: WebRecon Stats: 2023 Starts With Some Bite (Lawsuits Up)
Feb: Feb 2023 WebRecon Stats: The Red Sea (Everything is down)
Mar: WebRecon March 2023 Stats: Increased Complaints Across the Board
Apr: WebRecon April 2023 Stats: Everything Down Again
May: WebRecon May 2023 Stats: Everything Up Again
And for June: WebRecon June 2023 Stats: Another “Down” Month

Seeing the pattern here? After everything was up in May, June’s numbers all dropped again. FDCPA (-3.6%), FCRA (-10.5%) and TCPA (-33.9%) were all down for the month, and FDCPA (-27%) and FCRA (-7.8%) are both down YTD as well – a surprising twist for FCRA year-over-year trending. Only TCPA (+17.1%) was up YTD, primarily due to a big plaintiff-boost last month in a few suits.

CFPB complaints against collectors and creditors were down both for the month (-12.5%) and for the year (-12.2%).

In other news, putative class actions represented 8.2% of FDCPA, 58.1% of TCPA (!) and 1.4% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 37% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Chicago-area attorney James Parr represented the most consumers in June (28) while Atlanta attorney Matthew Thomas Berry has represented the most consumers YTD (99) so far in 2023.

Complaint Statistics:

5190 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 784 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jun 01, 2023 to Jun 30, 2023.

5190 CFPB Complaints
318 FDCPA, 26 Class Action (8.2%)
148 TCPA, 86 Class Action (58.1%)
451 FCRA, 10 Class Action (2.2%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

Of those cases, there were about 784 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
Of those plaintiffs, about 288, or (37%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2706 lawsuits since 2001
Actions were filed in 139 different US District Court branches.
About 541 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

66 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
37 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
37 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
28 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
26 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
22 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
21 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston
19 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
19 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
19 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Southern Division – Santa Ana

The most active consumer attorneys were:

Representing 28 Consumers: JAMES J PARR
Representing 27 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
Representing 15 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
Representing 12 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
Representing 11 Consumers: ALLEN EDGAR ROBERTSON
Representing 11 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
Representing 11 Consumers: M STAN HERRING
Representing 11 Consumers: JOHN G WATTS
Representing 11 Consumers: FRANK H KERNEY
Representing 10 Consumers: GREGORY MICHAEL KLOTE

Statistics Year to Date:
4858 total lawsuits for 2023, including:

1951 FDCPA
2690 FCRA
861 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2023: 4436 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

Representing 99 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
Representing 76 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
Representing 69 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
Representing 68 Consumers: JOSEPH POWELL MCCLELLAND
Representing 63 Consumers: ALLEN EDGAR ROBERTSON
Representing 63 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
Representing 56 Consumers: SHAWN SHAWN JAFFER
Representing 55 Consumers: AHREN A TILLER
Representing 54 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
Representing 52 Consumers: JOEL SPENCER HALVORSEN

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 5190 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jun 01, 2023 to Jun 30, 2023.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 751

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

1589 Other debt (31%)
1416 I do not know (27%)
1165 Credit card debt (22%)
527 Medical debt (10%)
277 Auto debt (5%)
105 Payday loan debt (2%)
52 Mortgage debt (1%)
33 Private student loan debt (1%)
26 Federal student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

2772 Attempts to collect debt not owed (53%)
890 Written notification about debt (17%)
542 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (10%)
470 False statements or representation (9%)
435 Communication tactics (8%)
81 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)

The top five subissues were:

1459 Debt is not yours (28%)
863 Debt was result of identity theft (17%)
584 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (11%)
362 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
361 Debt was paid (7%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

633 Complaints: TX
620 Complaints: FL
415 Complaints: CA
391 Complaints: GA
238 Complaints: NY
234 Complaints: PA
220 Complaints: IL
180 Complaints: NC
171 Complaints: NJ
156 Complaints: TN

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

3853 Closed with explanation (74%)
796 In progress (15%)
481 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
42 Untimely response (1%)
18 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 5089 (98%) timely responses to complaints, and 101 (2%) untimely responses.

WebRecon Reports Collections Litigation is Down

ABOUT WEBRECON

Each month, 1000+ new lawsuits are filed in state and federal courts against creditors, debt collectors, debt buyers and marketing professionals under FDCPA, TCPA, FCRA and more. Hundreds of these lawsuits are brought by repeat filers. Contact any one of them and your chances of being sued rise dramatically. WebRecon’s Litigant Alert helps you quickly identify many of the consumers who pose a significant risk to your financial well-being so you can protect yourself. Hundreds of companies like yours take advantage of our affordable, usage-based pricing to protect themselves month after month for a good reason.

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WebRecon Reports Collections Litigation is Down – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – FDCPA – Lawsuit – Credit Union Collections

WebRecon Reports Collections Litigation is Down