If you’re going to sue a collection operation for not reasonably investigating a dispute on your credit report, it’s probably best to file the dispute before you file the lawsuit claiming the dispute was not reasonably investigated. A District Court judge in New York has agreed to adopt a Magistrate judge’s recommendation that the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a Fair Credit Reporting Act case be granted.
A copy of the report and recommendation in the case of Owoyemi v. Credit Corp. Solutions can be accessed by clicking here.
The plaintiff defaulted on a loan in 2018 that was bold to the defendant in 2019. The defendant mailed a validation notice that the plaintiff did not respond to. Eighteen months later, it sent the plaintiff another letter, indicating that a negative credit report may be entered if he failed to repay the debt. Three months later, the defendant began furnishing information to the credit reporting agencies. Six months later, the plaintiff allegedly sent letters to the credit reporting agencies disputing the debt. That same month, he filed his lawsuit, accusing the defendant of violating the FCRA for failing to investigate his dispute. The defendant asserted, however, that it only learned of the dispute when it was served with the complaint.
A month after being served with the complaint, the defendant began reporting the debt as disputed with the credit reporting agencies.
A day after being notified that he could cure his claim by pleading that the defendant received notice of the dispute in a timely manner, the plaintiff called one of the credit reporting agencies to dispute the debt. The defendant was notified of the dispute, investigated it, and verified with the credit reporting agency that the information was accurate.
Ultimately, the plaintiff could not prove that the defendant received notice of the dispute from the credit reporting agency — required under Section 1682s-2(b) to trigger an investigation — prior to commencing his suit and the defendant submitted two declarations that it did not receive notice of a dispute until seven months after the suit was filed.
“Owoyemi provided no evidence to show that any credit reporting agency reported his dispute to Credit Corp before he filed suit,” the Magistrate judge wrote. “His contention otherwise is merely that – a contention, asserted in two conclusory sentences in the [First Amended Complaint], which do not suffice to create a genuine issue of disputed fact.”
