September 2026 consumer litigation filing statistics are in, and the picture is again a mixed one. Filings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) rose, while filings under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and complaint volume with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) all declined. Even
Statistics for August 2026 consumer litigation filings are in, and the picture is a mixed one: some statutes rose while others fell. Nonetheless, one trend for 2026 is becoming unmistakable: filings remain up substantially across the board compared to the same period last year.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has entered into a stipulated order for permanent injunction against 5967 Ventures, LLC, doing business as Humboldt Merchant Services, resolving allegations that the payment processor facilitated fraud by opening and maintaining payment processing accounts for shell companies and merchants engaged in deceptive practices. The order, filed on September 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, carries significant implications for the payment processing industry.
As we previously discussed here, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) delayed the effective date of its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, from September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, to provide regulated entities additional time to make operational adjustments and to allow the agency to address outstanding questions from industry stakeholders.
On July 21, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed settlement order permanently banning Dennise Merdjanian — a key operator of a Nevada-based student loan debt relief scheme — from the debt relief industry and from telemarketing. The order resolves the FTC’s charges that Merdjanian and her co-defendants took more than $45.9 million from consumers by impersonating the U.S. Department of Education and making false promises of student loan forgiveness.
On July 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a $500,000 jury verdict against a debt collection furnisher, holding that a consumer cannot prevail on a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) unreasonable investigation claim without first demonstrating that the disputed information was “objectively and readily verifiable” as inaccurate. In Ward v. National Credit Systems, Inc., the court joined the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits in adopting this standard, resolving a previously open question in the Tenth Circuit and delivering an important victory for furnishers facing FCRA claims rooted in identity theft allegations.
It has been reported that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has pushed back the effective date of its amended debt collection regulations, known as the SHIELD Rule, from September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027. The delay, which has not yet been confirmed on the DCWP’s official website, was announced to provide regulated entities additional time to make operational adjustments and to allow the agency to address outstanding questions from industry stakeholders.
On July 8, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Diana, delivering a decisive and long-awaited victory for debt buyers operating in New Jersey. The court’s ruling — affirming the dismissal of a putative class action brought by a borrower seeking to void his credit card debt — definitively closes the door on a theory of liability that has dogged the debt-buying industry in New Jersey for years.
Statistics for May 2026 consumer litigation filings are in, and the picture is essentially the reverse of April. After all three major consumer protection statutes posted month-over-month increases in April, the first time that had happened in over a year, all three declined in May.
On June 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a decision affirming summary judgment in favor of a consumer reporting agency (CRA) that allegedly issued an inaccurate consumer report by inadvertently including the subject’s twin brother’s speeding ticket in the background check report. The decision provides useful guidance on the standard for “reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the circumstances under which a CRA may rely on official court records without further investigation.