May Dip in Debt Collection Suits and Complaints Contrasts 2014 Data

From April to May 2014, complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about debt collectors fell nearly 16 percent, according to the latest data from WebRecon. There were a total 3188 complaints filed against debt collectors in May 2014, but the data shows that 95 percent of complaints received a timely response, and 69 percent of complaints were closed with explanation. Consumers accepted 83 percent of the responses.

In addition, lawsuits claiming violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) also fell by 15.4 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively. In fact, the only area in the data where lawsuits increased over the course of the month was for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); lawsuits increased 3.4 percent compared to April 2014.

While these trends seem like good news (and to an extent, they are), they haven’t proven to be the norm for 2014 as a whole. Compared to May 2013, TCPA lawsuits have increased by nearly 39 percent, and FCRA lawsuits have increased by nearly 26 percent. FCRA and TCPA litigation are both still up very significantly over this time last year (11 percent and 32.1 percent, respectively). FDCPA lawsuits, however, have decreased almost five percent compared to this time last year. For 2014 as a whole, FDCPA lawsuits have decreased 19.3 percent.