Debt Collection #2 on New York Attorney General's (Unverified) Complaints List

Curious about what’s on the Top 10 Consumer Complaints list for New York State? Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has a list:

1 ) Internet (privacy issues; spyware; consumer frauds) – 4,006
2 ) Credit (debt collection; credit card billing; debt settlement) – 3, 838
3 ) Automobile (buying, leasing, repair, service contracts, rentals) – 3,279
4 ) Consumer-Related Services (security systems; restaurant/catering services; tech repairs) – 3,661
5 ) Landlord/Tenant (residential repairs, deposit releases, tenant-harassment) – 2,711
6 ) Mortgage (mortgage and loan broker fraud, foreclosures) – 1,597
7 ) Retail Sales (any sale of goods: gift cards, clothing, rent-to-own) – 1,219
8 ) Home Repair/Construction (home improvement services not delivered or done poorly) – 1,211
9 ) Mail Order (purchases made online or from a catalog) – 1,064
10 ) Telecommunications (phone cards, cellular services, pay-per-call) – 1,017

While collection agencies didn’t make it to the #1 slot, they are not far behind. However, interestingly, collection agencies are lumped in under the general heading of “Credit” — so they share the #2 slot with credit card billing and debt settlement.

It’s important to note in this, and every other, story about consumer complaints: these numbers don’t represent all legitimate complaints. It simply is a record of the number of consumer complaints — legitimate or not — filed against particular market segments. This is raw data; there’s been no analysis.