All in all, September was a relatively quiet month for the collections industry, at least as the volume pertains to the number of lawsuits and complaints, according to data published by WebRecon.
The expected spike in lawsuits claiming violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has yet to materialize and may not happen until next year, based on timing. Perhaps the plaintiffs’ bar is waiting to see how ACA International‘s lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission is going to play out before making any strategic changes in how they file suits against collection agencies.
The number of complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against debt collectors by consumers also dropped significantly, compared with a month earlier. There were nearly 600 fewer complaints filed with the CFPB this September, compared with August. The number of complaints filed in September 2015 was slightly higher than the number filed last year.
Only lawsuits filed claiming violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act were higher in September than August. That number was a slight change, but the number of FCRA suits filed in September compared with last year was significantly higher.
Regardless of the somewhat slow month, the year-to-date totals for lawsuits and complaints are still higher in 2015 than through the same timeframe a year ago, according to WebRecon.
