We have 3 different reports exploring racial disparities in debt lawsuits in both California and Oregon, available here: debtcollectionlab.org/research?iss...

And more coming!

The report is descriptive and exploratory, as there is little information connecting debt lawsuits and credit report data. One of the most interesting findings is a disconnect between collection accounts on credit reports and lawsuit rates in a zip code, by race.

The report examined a sample of debt collection lawsuits in 4 large California counties and combines three different datasets at both lawsuit- and zip-levels.

Would love to be considered to be part of this group! Thanks for putting it together.

Our most recent paper is by Fred Wherry and Hannah Hill and "investigate[s] whether a debtor sued in a policy environment with fewer consumer protections is more likely to receive a default judgment...than those sued [where there are more] consumer protections" debtcollectionlab.org/research/how...

They (@claireraba.bsky.social and @dalie.bsky.social) have a law review article exploring California debt lawsuits and the barriers posed by California's $225+ answer fee on access to justice papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

@claireraba.bsky.social and @dalie.bsky.social have also coauthored several reports on various aspects of California debt collection, including how lawsuits map onto credit access and race/ethnicity. debtcollectionlab.org/research?loc...

Our partners at January Advisors authored a chartbook on what's going on with debt collection lawsuits in Oregon, finding, for example that "only 4% of Oregonians sued for debt respond to the case against them." More here: debtcollectionlab.org/research/ore...

Some highlights: we have 3 different papers on the effect of debt documentation laws on court outcomes, and a fourth on the effect of these laws on access to credit written by a team led by @dalie.bsky.social and @claireraba.bsky.social, co-PIs of the Lab.

debtcollectionlab.org/research?iss...