Consumers appear to have a lot less to be upset about these days, at least as it relates to companies in the accounts receivable management industry. The number of lawsuits alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act continue to plummet, as do the number of complaints filed by consumers with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to data released last week by WebRecon.
The number of FDCPA lawsuits filed in July was 19% lower than the number filed in June and 43% lower than the number filed in July of last year, according to WebRecon. Through the first seven months of 2022, the volume of FDCPA suits is down 24% from last year. The same pattern is true for the TCPA, too. Month-over-month, the volume of suits was down 4%. Compared with last July, this year’s total was 4% lower, and through the first seven months of 2022, TCPA suits are down 26%.
The FCRA is the outlier, but only by a little bit. The number of FCRA suits was down 5% in July, compared with June, but was 1% higher than last July. To date for 2022, the number of suits is up 4% from last year.
After setting a record in 2022, the number of consumer complaints against debt collection operations is down 15% through the first seven months of 2022. For July, the number of complaints was 5% lower on a month-over-month basis and 40% lower than the number that were filed in July 2021. Attempts to collect a debt that was not owed accounted for 52% of the complaints filed in July.
