Fair Credit Reporting Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act cases were much higher in January compared with January 2015 (+31.4% and +39.8% respectively) but that follows a multi-year trend for the two statutes that doesn’t seem to be easing, according to data collected from U.S. district courts by
CFPB and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act complaints balanced out those numbers with fewer January complaints (-17.6% and -19.1% respectively) compared with a year ago.
In January, 2,705 consumers filed CFPB complaints against debt collectors and approximately 1,160 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes. The approximate breakdown includes:
- 755 FDCPA, 129 Class Action (17.1%)
- 362 TCPA, 83 Class Action (22.9%)
- 272 FCRA, 46 Class Action (16.9%)
Of the 1,160 unique plaintiffs, about 384, or 33%, had sued under consumer statutes before. Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 3,366 lawsuits since 2001. Legal actions were filed in 151 different U.S. district court branches. An estimated 831 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The Illinois Northern District Court in Chicago once again had the most litigation filed in it, with 98 consumers represented in litigation. California had the most CFPB complaints against debt collectors, with 359. Attorney Todd Friedman represented the most consumers for the month (and YTD) with 28.The breakdown of CFPB complaints includes:
- 1,165 Continued attempts collect debt not owed (43%)
- 526 Disclosure verification of debt (19%)
- 392 Communication tactics (14%)
- 246 False statements or representation (9%)
- 208 Improper contact or sharing of info (8%)
- 168 Taking/threatening an illegal action (6%)
