A guide, with live counts from the courts' own feeds
Suing a debt collector under the FDCPA: what happens now
When a defaulted credit card or loan is sold, the buyer, or the agency it hires, collects it under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a federal statute that regulates how, when and what a collector may say to a consumer. A collector that calls too often, misstates the balance, threatens what it cannot do, or keeps collecting a disputed debt without verifying it can be sued in federal court, and those suits, filed by consumers and by small consumer-protection practices, are among the most common civil cases in the district courts. This page explains what the Act covers, the deadline that ends most of these cases, what a court can award, and what appears on the docket after filing.
12 new consumer suits naming Portfolio Recovery Associates, Midland Credit Management or LVNV Funding as first defendant filed in federal court between September 22, 2026 and September 25, 2026, across 9 districts, counted from the district courts' own filing feeds.
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How the case runs
Who the Act covers, and what it forbids
The Act applies to a “debt collector”: a business whose principal purpose is the collection of debts, or that regularly collects debts owed to another (15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)). A company that buys defaulted accounts and collects them is generally covered under the first of those prongs, although the Supreme Court has held that collecting a debt one owns is not collecting a debt “owed another” (Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 582 U.S. 79 (2017)). The Act then forbids calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. and calls to a workplace the employer prohibits (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)), requires collection contact to stop on a written demand (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c)), and bars harassment (15 U.S.C. § 1692d), false or misleading representations such as misstating the amount owed or threatening a suit the collector does not intend to bring (15 U.S.C. § 1692e), and unfair practices such as adding interest or fees the contract does not allow (15 U.S.C. § 1692f). Under Regulation F, more than seven calls about one debt within seven days is presumed to violate the Act (12 C.F.R. § 1006.14(b)(2)).
The validation notice and the dispute window
Within five days of its first communication, the collector must send a written notice stating the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor, and the consumer’s right to dispute it within 30 days (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)). If the consumer disputes the debt in writing within that window, the collector must stop collecting until it mails verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)). Collection activity that continues during that pause, or a notice that overshadows the 30-day right by demanding immediate payment, is one of the most commonly pleaded violations, and the letters and call logs are the evidence.
One year from the violation
A suit under the Act must be brought within one year from the date on which the violation occurs (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d)). The Supreme Court has held that this runs from the violation itself, not from when the consumer discovered it (Rotkiske v. Klemm, 589 U.S. 8 (2019)), so a collection letter or call more than a year old cannot support the claim on its own, and the complaint usually pleads the most recent contacts. The collector may defend by showing the violation was an unintentional bona fide error despite procedures reasonably adapted to avoid it (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c)).
What the court can award, and how these cases end
A consumer who proves a violation recovers any actual damages, additional statutory damages the court sets at up to $1,000 for the action, and the costs of the action together with a reasonable attorney’s fee (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)). Because the fee is paid by the collector, many consumer-protection firms take these cases without charging in advance. After filing, the collector has 21 days from service to answer or move to dismiss (Rule 12(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure); a motion arguing that the consumer suffered no concrete injury is common since TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021). Many of these cases settle within weeks of the answer, often after an offer of judgment (Rule 68), and end with a stipulation of dismissal (Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii)).
Know the day your docket moves
A debt collector case is short and moves in a few entries: the answer or a motion to dismiss, a Rule 68 offer, a settlement notice, the dismissal. If you are representing yourself, the court mails nothing the day an entry is docketed, and a motion to dismiss for lack of standing has a response deadline that runs from the day it is filed. CaseMagic Watch reads your docket every day and emails you when a new entry lands, with the deadline that follows from it, so the motion that could end your case does not sit unanswered.
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Where they were filed
| District | New cases | Free feed |
|---|---|---|
| N.D. Ohio | 3 | Wire |
| M.D. Fla. | 2 | Wire |
| D. Ariz. | 1 | Wire |
| S.D. Cal. | 1 | Wire |
| N.D. Ill. | 1 | Wire |
| S.D. Ind. | 1 | Wire |
| W.D. Ky. | 1 | Wire |
| S.D. Miss. | 1 | Wire |
| E.D. Tenn. | 1 | Wire |
A case is counted once, on the date its opening filing was made, when the defendant the court typed into the caption is one this kind of case is brought against. Districts that publish no filing feed are not counted. No names are listed here on purpose.
Each district's wire is a free Atom feed of every new civil case filed there, released 48 hours after filing, for a feed reader or a Slack channel. Every district on the wire.
Questions people ask before they start
I really owe the debt. Can I still sue?
Yes. The Act regulates how a debt is collected, not whether it is owed. A consumer who owes every dollar can still recover for calls at forbidden hours, a misstated balance, a threat the collector could not carry out, or collection that continued after a written dispute (15 U.S.C. §§ 1692c to 1692g). Whether you owe the debt is a separate question that the collector may pursue in state court.
The collector sued me in state court. Is that this kind of case?
No. A collector’s suit to recover the debt is a state-court collection case. This page counts the reverse: a consumer’s federal suit against the collector under the FDCPA. The two often run at the same time, and a consumer who has been sued may bring the federal claim over how the collection was conducted.
Who pays the lawyer?
A consumer who wins recovers the costs of the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee from the collector (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(3)). That is why many consumer-protection practices take these cases on that basis rather than charging by the hour.
How is the count on this page made?
It is the number of suits opened in the last 30 days that name Portfolio Recovery Associates, Midland Credit Management, Midland Funding or LVNV Funding as the first defendant, read from the district courts’ own filing feeds and shown by district. Suits against other collectors, or that name a credit bureau first, are not counted, so the true number of FDCPA suits is higher, and it is not a count of anyone’s clients.
CaseMagic is an independent service, not a law firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice. The rules cited are the ones in force as this page was written; check your court's local rules and any order in your own case.
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