Three out of the top four targets of consumer complaints to the CFPB about their debt collection practices saw their numbers go down both quarter over quarter and year over year, according to a new analysis by Inside the CFPB. Encore Capital Group, the largest of the top four, in terms of number of consumer gripes, saw its tallies drop 31.1 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to the fourth, and 28.0 percent from year-ago levels, the latest numbers from the CFPB’s consumer complaint database show. Second-ranked Portfolio Recovery Associates was the only one of the four largest firms hit by criticisms to bounce down in one period (9.4 percent QoQ) yet rise in another (30.7 percent YoY)... [with exclusive data chart]...