Effective, Experienced, Exceptional.

Firm Profile

Charged-off Debt

Subscribe to Consumer Finance

Thank you for your desire to subscribe to Severson & Werson’s Consumer Finance Weblog. In order to subscribe, you must provide a valid name and e-mail address. This too will be retained on our server. When you push the “subscribe button”, we will send an electronic mail to the address that you provided asking you to confirm your subscription to our Weblog. By pushing the “subscribe button”, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old, are the owner/authorized user of that e-mail address, and are entitled to receive e-mails at that address. Our weblog will retain your name and e-mail address on its server, or the server of its web host. However, we won’t share any of this information with anyone except the Firm’s employees and contractors, except under certain extraordinary circumstances described on our Privacy Policy and (About The Consumer Finance Blog/About the Appellate Tracker Weblog) Page. NOTICE AND AGREEMENT REGARDING E-MAILS AND CALLS/TEXT MESSAGES TO LAND-LINE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONES: By providing your contact information and confirming your subscription in response to the initial e-mail that we send you, you agree to receive e-mail messages from Severson & Werson from time-to-time and understand and agree that such messages are or may be sent by means of automated dialing technology. If you have your email forwarded to other electronic media, including text messages and cellular telephone by way of VoIP, internet, social media, or otherwise, you agree to receive my messages in that way. This may result in charges to you. Your agreement and consent also extend to any other agents, affiliates, or entities to whom our communications are forwarded. You agree that you will notify Severson & Werson in writing if you revoke this agreement and that your revocation will not be effective until you notify Severson & Werson in writing. You understand and agree that you will afford Severson & Werson a reasonable time to unsubscribe you from the website, that the ability to do so depends on Severson & Werson’s press of business and access to the weblog, and that you may still receive one or more emails or communications from weblog until we are able to unsubscribe you.

District Court (Minn.) Says Charged-Off Debt Remains Owing, and It’s Not Inaccurate to Report It

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Towle v. TD Bank USA, N.A., No. 22-CV-0624 (PJS/TNL), 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146898, at *1-3 (D. Minn. Aug. 17, 2022), Judge Schiltz dismissed a credit reporting claim premised on the grounds that reporting charged off debt is inaccurate because, allegedly, it's not owing anymore.  Judge Schiltz found the allegation to be frivolous. Towle filed his original complaint on… Read More

District Court (Tenn.) Says Scheduled Monthly Payment Issue Did Not Give Rise to FCRA Claim

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Cowley v. Equifax Info. Servs., No. 2:18-cv-02846-TLP-cgc, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 193522 (W.D. Tenn. Nov. 7, 2019, the District Court refused to allow a scheduled monthly payment issue case to proceed under the FCRA. The only evidence Plaintiff [*9]  brings to defeat UCFSC's motion for summary judgment is that the industry guideline, the CRRG, suggests that when a furnisher of… Read More

District Court (Tex.) Finds No Inaccuracy in Reporting Closed Automobile Account

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Rodriguez v. Trans Union Llc & Santander Cosumer United States, No. 1:19-CV-379-LY, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186016 (W.D. Tex. Oct. 28, 2019), Magistrate Judge Yeakel found no inaccuracy in how a closed automobile account was being reported.  The Plaintiff claimed that her credit report erroneously stated that she owed a monthly payment of $345 on an account (the "Santander Account")… Read More

District Court (Ky.) Says “Charged-Off” Account Doesn’t Mean that Furnisher Had to Stop Reporting

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Donald Cable v. Midland Funding, No. 3:19-CV-00015-GFVT, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115597 (E.D. Ky. July 11, 2019), Judge Van Tatenhove dismissed an FCRA claim. The Complaint acknowledges that CCU was notified of Mr. Cable's dispute and CCU subsequently verified the debt with the credit reporting agencies, [R. 1 at ¶¶ 30-31], but leaves the Court left to guess as… Read More

District Court (Utah) Says Furnisher May Have Reported Loan Properly Through Ch. 13 Proceedings; Denies Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Rainer v. Experian Info. Solutions, Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39217 (D.Utah. March 11, 2019), Judge Sam denied an FCRA Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment relating to how the Furnisher reported the Plaintiff’s Account through and after the Plaintiff’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  In 2008, Plaintiff borrowed $4,500 from Grantsville Federal Credit Union. AUFCU became the owner of Plaintiff's account… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Finds CRA Neither Willfully Nor Negligently Reported Plaintiff’s Post-Bankruptcy Status; Confirms that FCRA Affords No Injunctive Relief; Limits Recovery for Negligent Violation

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Gadomski v. Equifax Information Services, Inc., 2018 WL 2096862, at *4–6 (E.D.Cal., 2018), the District Court found that no willful violation of the CRA could lie absent prior notice that the information was inaccurate or that the information came from an unreliable source.  Here, Defendant does not dispute that the information reported on Plaintiff’s credit report was inaccurate. (See ECF… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Allows FCRA Bankruptcy Reporting Case to Proceed as a Class Action

by Alisa A. Givental |

In Nissou-Rabban v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., 2018 WL 538962, at *6 (S.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Houston found that an FCRA plaintiff whose credit card account has passed through bankruptcy sufficiently alleged an "inaccuracy" under the FCRA and that such claim could proceed as a class action.  After allowing the Plaintiff to amend the Complaint to allege a class action, the… Read More

District Court (Mich.) Allows FCRA Claim Regarding Reporting Charged-off Debt Past the Pleading Stages Despite Defendant’s Reliance on CDIA Guidelines

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Shaw v. Equinox Information Solutions, Inc., 2016 WL 2344353, at *3-5 (E.D.Mich., 2016), Judge Hood denied a Motion to Dismiss a FCRA case, saying that a case was better suited for summary judgment. Plaintiff's cause of action is based on her contention that Defendants inaccurately reported that the account was charged off on multiple occasions over a series of months. Specifically,… Read More