Claims of Violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by Debt Purchaser
We represented a debt purchaser against claims of violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). The consumer argued that the debt purchaser violated the FCRA by failing to reasonably investigate the notices of dispute that it received from credit reporting agencies. The district court granted summary judgment to the debt purchaser and held that “no reasonable factfinder could determine that Defendant's investigation was unreasonable. Further, no reasonable factfinder could determine that Defendant furnished the CRAs with inaccurate information given the absence of evidence showing that Plaintiff was not liable on the Account.” The consumer further argued that the debt purchaser violated the FDCPA by “reporting to the CRAs that Plaintiff owed a debt that she did not and that the underlying debt was more recent than it was in connection with an attempt to collect a consumer debt under a credit card." The district court granted summary judgment to the debt purchaser and held that the allegation that the debt sought to be collected is not owed, standing alone, cannot form a basis for a “false and misleading practices” claim under the FDCPA. Moreover, Plaintiff's own expert admitted that the debt purchaser accurately reported the "date opened" and the "FCRA compliance/date of first delinquency" at all times. The district court also awarded reasonable attorney’s fees to the debt purchaser on the FDCPA claim and held that that the debt purchaser established that the FDCPA claim was “brought in bad faith and for purposes of harassment.”