Debt Collection Lawsuits Are Rising In U.S. States.

Debt collection lawsuits have surged back to, and in many places beyond, pre‑pandemic levels in many U.S. states, putting more consumers at risk of court judgments, wage garnishments, and bank account seizures. The increase is strongest in state courts and is being driven largely by a small number of high‑volume debt buyers and collectors.​

What is happening

• State court filings for consumer debt lawsuits dropped in 2020–2021 but began rising sharply in 2022 and have continued climbing through 2024 and into early 2025.​

• In a sample of states and large metro areas, filings in 2023–2024 often matched or exceeded 2019 levels, showing a clear rebound from the pandemic lull.​

Scale of the increase

• Pew estimates up to about 4.7 million debt collection cases were filed in state courts in 2022, with even more cases in 2023 and 2024.​

• Early 2025 data show, for example, Connecticut and Minnesota with tens of thousands of cases filed in just the first months of the year, significantly above both 2019 and 2024 counts.​

Which states and who is filing

• Detailed public data highlight spikes in states such as Connecticut, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia, among others.​

• In several states, just 10 large plaintiffs (mainly national debt buyers and banks) now account for roughly half or more of all debt lawsuits, and some individual companies have multiplied their filing volumes several‑fold since 2019.​

Who is most affected

• Many lawsuits involve relatively small debts, often under a few thousand dollars, frequently from credit cards, bank accounts, and medical bills.​

• Studies show Black and Hispanic consumers are more likely than white and Asian consumers to end up with court judgments from these suits, and most defendants appear without lawyers or never respond at all.​

Why this matters for consumers

• A court judgment can allow collectors to garnish wages, seize funds from bank accounts, or place liens on property, deepening financial instability for people already in collections.​

• At the same time, complaints to regulators about debt collection and related credit reporting issues have climbed, and a large share involve debts consumers say they do not owe or do not recognize.​

The sharpest documented increases are in a cluster of states where recent case‑level court data are available, especially Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota, Indiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Missouri, along with major metro areas in Texas and Arizona. In several of these states, 2023–2024 filings have not only rebounded from the pandemic dip but now meet or exceed 2019 levels, indicating some of the largest jumps in debt collection litigation nationwide.​

States with biggest jumps

• Connecticut: By 2024, filings were about 123% of their 2019 level, and early 2025 data show more than 36,000 cases through mid‑year—roughly 50% higher than the same period in 2019.​

• Minnesota: Statewide filings climbed sharply after 2022; by early 2025, roughly 37,000 cases had been filed between January and May, about 30% more than in the same period in 2024.​

• North Dakota: 2024 filings reached around 123% of 2019 levels, with rural areas also showing pronounced increases.​

Other states with notable increases

• Indiana and Virginia: Both show substantial growth in contract and consumer debt cases since 2022, with 2024 levels clearly above 2020 and approaching or surpassing 2019.​

• Wisconsin and Missouri: Available datasets indicate strong post‑pandemic rebounds, with 2024 filings significantly above 2020 levels and trending back toward or beyond pre‑pandemic figures.​

Metro areas with large surges

• Texas metros: Houston (Harris County), Austin (Travis County), and Fort Worth (Tarrant County) have all seen marked rises in debt lawsuits since 2022, many now above 2019 volumes.​

• Maricopa County, AZ, and Philadelphia, PA: Both jurisdictions are highlighted as examples where debt collection suits dominate civil dockets and have surged back to, or beyond, pre‑pandemic levels.​

Important caveat on national rankings

• Nationwide, no single public dataset ranks every state by the exact size of its increase; the clearest numbers come from the sample of states and local courts studied by Pew, January Advisors, and the Debt Collection Lab.​

• Because those studies consistently show especially large jumps in Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota, Indiana, Virginia, and Wisconsin, these states are currently the best‑documented examples of where debt collection filings have increased the most.