FDCPA Lawsuits Up in January and TCPA Claims Down, Reversing 2014 Trends

The number of lawsuits filed by consumers under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) increased in January compared to the same period in 2014. Lawsuits citing violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) were down in year-over-year comparison. It reverses a trend from the past three years, but 2015 is still young.

There were 765 FDCPA suits filed in federal courts in January 2015, an increase of 5.4 percent from January 2014, according to data provided by WebRecon LLC. The total represented a nine percent increase from the previous month, however.

TCPA suits came in at 142 in January 2015, down more than 33 percent from January 2014 and down almost 18 percent from December 2014.

Although just the first month of the year, the filings represent a sharp turnaround in both FDCPA and TCPA lawsuit trends of the past several years.

Total TCPA lawsuits set a record in 2014 after years of double-digit growth. FDCPA suits, meanwhile, fell for the third straight year.

The steady decline in FDCPA lawsuits has been at least partially offset by a meteoric rise in cases claiming violations of the Telephone Consumer Protect Act (TCPA). In 2014, the total number of TCPA cases filed increased 25 percent.

Five years ago, the TCPA was a minor blip on the radar of ARM compliance professionals. A dramatic increase in the usage of mobile phone usage in the U.S., combined with several other factors, has made the TCPA a much more enticing statute for aggrieved consumers and their legal representation.

In January 2015, repeat filers continued to account for a significant portion of lawsuits filed under the FDCPA and TCPA, with 36 percent of suits filed by consumers who had previously filed such actions. Class actions represented about 15 percent of FDCPA suits and roughly four percent of TCPA suits.