Consumers held nothing back in January, filing lawsuits and complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a pace that hasn’t been seen in the accounts receivable management industry for a long time, according to data released yesterday by WebRecon. Not only were the number of lawsuits and complaints higher, whether on a month-over-month or year-over-year basis, but the size of the increases was also noteworthy in and of itself.
The 530 Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits that were filed in January were the most ever in a single month, according to WebRecon’s stats, topping the 526 that were filed last September. The 530 FCRA lawsuits was a 23% jump on a month-over-month basis and a 20% spike from the number of lawsuits filed last January.
The number of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits were also up by double-digits. The 453 FDCPA lawsuits were the most in a month since March 2022, and the number of TCPA lawsuits topped 200 in a month for just the second time in three years.
Nearly one-third of all TCPA lawsuits filed in January were class actions, compared with 5.3% of FDCPA suits and 2% of FCRA suits.
Consumers submitted 6,947 complaints with the CFPB in January, compared with 6,051 in December and 6,079 last January. The 6,947 complaints were the most in a month since February 2022. Attempts to collect a debt that is not owed remained the most common complaint from consumers, representing 52% of all complaints filed in January. That is more than twice as much as the next most-common complaint — written notification about a debt.
