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Adding fuel to the small fire set by similar decisions by courts in the Northern District of Florida and the Central District of Illinois, a Middle District of Florida court on Friday ruled that text messages are not “calls” for purposes of the Do Not Call (DNC) provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).¹

Data breaches continue to be a major problem for corporations and organizations in 2025, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, has recently brought enforcement actions for hacking, ransomware, and other cybercrimes.  See U.S. Dept. of Justice, Former U.S. Soldier Pleads Guilty to Hacking and Extortion Scheme Involving Telecommunications Companies, July 13, 2025, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-soldier-pleads-guilty-hacking-and-extortion-scheme-involving-telecommunications.

On September 9, 2025, the Court of Appeal of the State of California upheld California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta’s trial-court victory against a business and its owner for violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) based on allegations of the illegal sale of credit insurance, which largely targeted the business’s Latino immigrant customer base.

TCPA, FDCPA way up over last month, FCRA down a bit.

September 2025 saw TCPA and FDCPA litigation spike by double digits (+23.7& and +22.6% respectively) while FCRA litigation ticked down a bit (-4.7%).

Year-to-date, FDCPA is closing the gap and trending to possibly surpass last year’s number. Over the last six months, FDCPA has been hovering in the range of -9% down to -5% down over 2024. In September, that gap dropped to 1.7%. TCPA and FCRA will have no problem significantly surpassing their 2024 totals, with them ahead by +57.9% and +30.7% respectively.

Lenders are refining how they score enrolled accounts—not to rush them into courtrooms, but to determine whether litigation is a last resort or a misapplied strategy.