FCRA -- 15 U.S.C. § 1681

In Rydholm v. Equifax Info. Servs. LLC, No. 20-3425, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 22691, at *5-7 (8th Cir. Aug. 16, 2022), the Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit held that the FCRA's standards applicable to the CRAs are not strict liability. "CRAs must look beyond information furnished to them when it is inconsistent with [their] own records, contains a… Read More

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

In Richmond v. Medicredit, Inc., No. 5:21-CV-00068-KDB-DSC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130092, at *8 (W.D.N.C. July 22, 2022), Judge Bell denied an FDCPA defendant's summary judgment motion. The Court finds that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Medicredit reported Richmond's debts as disputed to the credit reporting agencies ("CRAs"). The FDCPA protects consumers from certain… Read More

In Riser v. Cent. Portfolio Control, Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109545, Case No. 3:21-cv-05238-LK (W.D. Wash. June 21, 2022), Judge King dismissed an FCRA claim against a consumer reporting agency over the propriety of reporting a medical debt which the Plaintiff claimed that she did not owe because she was covered by Washington's Medicaid plan. Relying on the Ninth… Read More

In George v. Summit Credit Union, No. 21-CV-259-JPS, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112739, at *14-21 (E.D. Wis. June 27, 2022), Judge Stadtmueller granted partial summary judgment to an FCRA Plaintiff against a furnisher, leaving for further litigation only the issue of recoverable damages. The FCRA provides that a furnisher (such as Summit) can be held liable to a consumer for… Read More

We previously reported on this case here:  https://www.severson.com/consumer-finance/district-court-cal-finds-no-fdcpa-claim-based-on-reporting-account-as-disputed-when-debtor-did-not-dispute-the-debt/ Now, again, in Samano v. LVNV Funding, LLC, No. 1:21-cv-01692-SKO, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114028, at *4-8 (E.D. Cal. June 27, 2022), Magistrate Oberta again granted a Motion to Dismiss, but again gave leave to amend, on whether credit reporting constituted debt collection activity. The purposes of the FDCPA are "to eliminate… Read More

In Gross v. Citimortgage (9th Cir. 2022) -- FCRA decision, No. 20-17160, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 13096, at *8 (9th Cir. May 16, 2022), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that under the FCRA, a furnisher of credit information must make a reasonable investigation if the consumer about whom it furnishes information to a credit reporting bureau… Read More

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has long held that as part of their investigation obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”) are not required to assess the merits of a legal defense to a payment obligation being reported on a consumer credit report. Carvalho v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, 629 F.3d 876, 891… Read More

In a strange fact pattern, in Samano v. LVNV Funding, LLC, No. 1:21-cv-01692-SKO, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72102, at *11-14 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 18, 2022), Magistrate Judge Oberto dismissed FDCPA claims derived from Plaintiff's complaint that the debt collector reported the Account as disputed when the Plaintiff previously had written to the debt collector to advise that he did not… Read More

In Persinger v. Sw. Credit Sys., L.P., No. 21-1037, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 37986, at *16-17 (7th Cir. Dec. 22, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit affirmed dismissal of an FCRA "Permissible Purpose" case arising out of a post-discharge credit pull.  The facts were as follows: Persinger and her husband jointly filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Their… Read More

Smith v. Trans Union LLC, No. 20-4233, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 198812 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 14, 2021), Judge Savage dismissed an FCRA case premised on an alleged inconsistency in reporting an account as closed with a zero balance but also a past due balance. The issue in these Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) actions is whether a consumer reporting agency's… Read More

In Weiser v. Castille, No. 20-2043, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173993, at *13-14 (E.D. La. Sep. 14, 2021), Judge Lemmon dismissed FDCPA and FCRA claims arising out of a Plaintiff's investment mobile home properties.   Additionally, an obligation arising from a commercial transaction, as opposed to a transaction "primarily for personal, family, or household purposes" is not a "debt" as defined… Read More

In Canady v. Kaps & Co. (USA) Ltd. Liab. Co., No. 4:20-CV-1253-CLM, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148878, at *7-9 (N.D. Ala. Aug. 9, 2021), Judge Maze found that an FDCPA Plaintiff stated a 1692e(8) claim. Kaps also argues that Canady's complaint fails to state a claim under § 1692e(8) because Canady alleges that she disputed the debt only after Kaps… Read More

In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, No. 20-297, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 3401, at *1-7 (June 25, 2021), the Supreme Court held that every classmember must meet Art. III Standing.  SCOTUS explained in the syllabus: The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates the consumer reporting agencies that compile and disseminate personal information about consumers. 15 U. S. C. §1681 et seq. The Act also creates a cause… Read More

In  Bruce v. Am. Honda Fin. Corp., No. 3:20-cv-00128-ECM, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107187, at *9 (M.D. Ala. June 8, 2021), Judge Marks ruled against a FCRA Plaintiff on the claim that identification of the amount monthly payment on a closed, zero-balanced account is "inaccurate" and suggests to users that the account is open. Now pending before the Court is… Read More

In Cheetham v. Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, No. 2:20-CV-762-JCC-DWC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99759 (W.D. Wash. May 26, 2021), Judge Cristel protected inquiry by a Furnisher from a FCRA plaintiff of the Plaintiff’s settlement with the CRAs. SLS seeks to compel Jon to respond to a deposition question inquiring into the total sum of monies Plaintiffs received from each CRA… Read More

In Carrasco v. M & T Bank, No. SAG-21-0532, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80487, at *8 (D. Md. Apr. 27, 2021), Judge Gallagher allowed an FCRA claim past the pleadings stage where the Plaintiff argued that the creditor had not reported the Account as disputed. Count One of Plaintiff's Complaint fairly alleges that M&T violated the FCRA by failing to inform the… Read More

In Brogan v. Fred Beans Chevrolet, No. 20-1944, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 11183, at *1-2 (3d Cir. Apr. 19, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found no TILA or FCRA violation by a car dealer in attempting to get a customer's car financed.  The facts were as follows: In 2017, Brogan bought a used Subaru from Fred… Read More

In Tillman v. Mich. First Credit Union, & Sec. Auto Loans, No. 19-12860, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66146, at *9 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 5, 2021), Judge Lawson granted summary judgment to an automobile lender on a challenge to the consumer report listing payment amounts post-bankruptcy discharge. The Sixth Circuit recently clarified the showing that must be made to sustain the… Read More

In Finlay v. MyLife.com Inc., No. 20-cv-1105 (SRN/DTS), 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49154, at *16-18 (D. Minn. Mar. 16, 2021), Judge Nelson denied a Motion to Dismiss asserting that MyLife did not issue "consumer reports" under the FCRA. Plaintiff Brion Finlay is a resident of Minnesota and is currently searching for a new job. (Id. ¶¶ 1, 40.) He alleges… Read More