Hunstein copycat cases propelled the number of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases filed in May higher, according to data released this week by WebRecon, which tracks litigation across the accounts receivable management industry. More than 200 lawsuits alleging companies violated the third-party disclosures provisions of the FDCPA have been filed since the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the Hunstein case two months ago. FDCPA cases were the only category of cases where the number of lawsuits filed in May was higher than the number filed in April, according to WebRecon’s data.
The 609 FDCPA lawsuits filed in May were 4% higher than the number filed in April, 16% higher than the number filed last May and closed the cap on the year-to-date filings as well. The number of Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits were down 5% on a month-over-month basis, essentially the same when comparing the same month from last year, and the year-to-date totals are 3% higher in 2021 than 2020.
The number of Telephone Consumer Protection Act cases continues to plummet — down 20% on a month-over-month basis and 47% lower than the same month last year. Through the first five months of 2021, the number of TCPA suits is down 56% from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the number of complaints filed in May with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was down 7% from April, but is still 34% higher through the first five months of the year. Consumers submitted those 5,263 complaints against more than 800 debt collectors. Attempts to collect a debt not owed accounted for 49% of the complaints, followed by written notification about a debt (29%), took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%), and false statements or representation (7%).
