Are plaintiffs getting a little tired or bored of filing lawsuits against collection agencies?
It seems as though there might be some ennui permeating through the offices of plaintiff’s attorneys, as the number of lawsuits filed against collection agencies alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act continue to wax and wane and not climb like the price of bitcoin, according to data released yesterday by WebRecon.
Through the first three months of 2018, there were 4,503 lawsuits filed, compared with 4,881 during the same period a year ago, a drop of 8%. While 4,503 lawsuits is still an incredibly high number, the fact that the number is lower than a year ago is notable.
What is interesting is that the number of TCPA lawsuits is down 20% on a cumulative basis for the first three months of 2018, but was up 15% in March, when compared with last year.
The number of complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau is also down more than 50% on a year-over-year basis. Only the number of complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — and for who knows for how much longer we’ll get to see that — is up, 18% compared with last year. The 5,229 complaints filed with the CFPB in March were a record for any month, according to WebRecon.
