NCLC Debt Collection Fact Sheet

The National Consumer Law Center has released a report on state specific debt collection information and complaints.  Most notable is the high percentage of complaints in the South:

Seven out of the ten states with the highest per capita number of debt collection complaints in 2017 are in the South (Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana)), one is in the mid-Atlantic (District of Columbia), one is in the Midwest (Michigan), and one is in the West (Nevada).

Some of these states have strong consumer debt collection laws (Texas and Florida) some do not (Alabama).

Also key findings of note:

In 2017, top categories of reported law violations included “Calls After Getting ‘Stop Calling’ Notice” (227,917 complaints), “Calls Repeatedly” (210,238 complaints), “Makes False Representation about Debt” (192,704 complaints), “Fails to Identify as Debt Collector” (84,364), “Tells Someone Else About Consumer’s Debt” (39,760 complaints), and “Falsely Threatens Illegal or Unintended Act” (31,519 complaints)

Nationally, the three companies receiving the most debt collection complaints were Enhanced Recovery Associates, Portfolio Recovery Associates, and Credit One Bank – each receiving more than 10,000 consumer complaints in 2017.

Read more about debt collection and the FDCPA here.