Debt Collection Complaints Surged In 2025 As Economy Squeezes Consumers

Debt collection complaints and call-related grievances rose sharply in 2025, driven by higher household debt, increased delinquencies, and more aggressive and fraudulent collection activity.

Key complaint numbers

• The FTC logged more than 400,000 complaints related to debt collection calls in 2025, with per‑capita reports jumping about 200% from 2024 to 2025.

• In CFPB complaint data, approximately 207,800 debt collection complaints were recorded for 2024 (reported in the 2025 FDCPA report), nearly double the roughly 109,900 complaints in 2023 and representing about 7% of all CFPB complaints.

• A large share of complaints involve calls described as harassing, fraudulent, or threatening, and many consumers say collectors tried to collect a “debt not owed.”

Economic and structural drivers

• Total U.S. consumer debt climbed to around 18.3–18.4 trillion dollars by 2025, with rising average debt per consumer and higher monthly payments, increasing financial strain.

• Credit card balances surpassed roughly 1.2 trillion dollars, and delinquency rates on consumer loans reached their highest levels since around 2012, feeding more accounts into collections.

• Pandemic‑era relief and pauses in collection activity have largely ended, and the industry has “rebounded,” with both legitimate collectors and scammers more active again.

Complaint patterns and legal context

• Around 45% of CFPB debt collection complaints center on attempts to collect debts consumers say they do not owe, including identity theft, misattributed accounts, or disputed responsibility.

• Regulators view the spike in complaints as a warning sign about both household financial stress and potentially unlawful collection tactics, particularly repeated calls, failure to validate debts, and scam impersonation.

• Despite the surge, companies responded to about 97% of debt collection complaints routed to them by the CFPB, indicating high participation in the complaint process.

Illustration: what a typical consumer is experiencing

A typical consumer in 2025 may be juggling a larger mortgage, higher‑rate credit card balances, and possibly medical debt, with monthly payments that have climbed substantially relative to a few years ago. When they fall behind, they can face multiple collectors calling, confusion over who owns the debt, and an increased risk of scam calls, all of which show up in the complaint data as “harassing calls” or “debt not owed.”