BIBBS v. TRANS UNION LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 23, 2021
Docket2:20-cv-04514
StatusUnknown

This text of BIBBS v. TRANS UNION LLC (BIBBS v. TRANS UNION LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BIBBS v. TRANS UNION LLC, (E.D. Pa. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

MARISSA BIBBS : CIVIL ACTION : v. : NO. 20-4514 : TRANS UNION LLC :

MEMORANDUM KEARNEY, J. February 23, 2021 Marissa Bibbs claims credit reporting agency Trans Union violates federal law by reporting both a zero-balance owed to student loan creditor Navient and a debt owed to Navient over 120 days past due when Navient transferred the debt and closed her account. She does not identify a loss or the denial of credit because of Trans Union’s reporting. She instead argues it is impossible to both owe nothing to Navient when it transferred and closed her account and have a pay status of 120 days past due. Her argument makes some sense on first pass when looking at one entry on her credit report. But we must read the entire report mindful Congress does not require Trans Union provide an encyclopedic explanation of her obligation to the creditor; a credit report instead offers a snapshot which must be accurate or not mislead a creditor based on the entirety of investigated and reported data. All parties concede Navient transferred her overdue debt on the date reported, closed her obligation, and reported her as paying 120 days past due. This is patently accurate. It is not misleading. We grant Trans Union’s Motion for judgment on the pleadings and deny Ms. Bibbs’s cross-Motion because Trans Union accurately represents her obligation as of the date Navient closed and transferred her debt. There is no dispute she owed nothing more to Navient upon transfer and her obligations had been 120 days past due at time of transfer. We grant her leave to timely amend if she can plead facts consistent with Rule 11 showing the credit report is patently inaccurate or misleading. I. Alleged undisputed facts Marissa Bibbs agreed to repay six student loans to loan provider Navient in 2013.1 She fell more than 120 days behind on her payments by August 2017.2 Ms. Bibbs does not allege she paid off her accounts before Navient closed them in April 2018 and transferred them to another lender.3 After transfer, Ms. Bibbs had a $0 balance owed to Navient.4 Ms. Bibbs received a

credit report from Trans Union LLC at some unpleaded time for an unpleaded reason.5 According to Ms. Bibbs, the credit report listed the “Status” of these six accounts as “120 Days Past Due,” but also noted a “$0” balance.6 Ms. Bibbs’s attorney disputed her credit report. Her attorney, who has now filed more than sixty complaints in this District alone and several more across the country alleging nearly identical facts, sent a letter to Trans Union on July 13, 2018, disputing the report and threatening to file a lawsuit if “this incorrect information is not removed or corrected.”7 He elaborated, “it is impossible for [the loans’] current status to be listed as late” if the balance on the loans is zero.8 Trans Union timely responded with the results of its investigation into her dispute.9

Trans Union’s investigation report (different from the credit report) includes a “Note on Credit Report Updates,” which explains, “[f]or inactive accounts of accounts that have been closed and paid, Pay Status represents the last known status of the account.”10 Directly below the “Note on Credit Report Updates,” Trans Union’s investigation report provides a table of definitions “to help [the requesting consumer] understand Your Investigation Results.”11 In this table, Trans Union defines “Pay Status” as “[t]he current status of the account; how you are currently paying.”12 Under the definitions table in the investigation report, Trans Union provides a “Ratings Key.”13 The Ratings Key explains, “[a]ny rating that is shaded or any value in the account detail appearing with brackets (> <) may indicate that it is considered adverse.”14 Trans Union then provided the substance of the investigation results copying how the disputed account “appears on your credit report following our investigation.”!° One of the six identical excerpts provided to us by counsel demonstrates:

Date Oponed: 09/18/2010. ~ Balance: 80 Pay Status: >Azcount 120 Days Past Responsibility: Individual Account Date Updated: 04/05/2018 Due Dates Account Type: Installment Account Last PaymentMade: 06/19/2015 Terms: Monthly for 188 months Loan Type: STUDENT LOAN High Balance: $667 Date Closed: 04/05/2018 Original Charge-off; □□ Maximum Delinquency of 120 days in 07/2017 and in 04/2018< Remarks; ACCT CLOSED DUE TO TRANSFER; TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER OFFICE Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 03/2024 Tenors toate | ov0t8 fouiT_ Tort attr_[_ avant | ow” svt? | WT Rang The report on the remaining five loans are identical in all relevant respects. Each excerpt shows Ms. Bibbs’s accounts: (1) have a zero-dollar balance; (2) were last updated on April 5, 2018; (3) were closed on April 5, 2018; (4) had a maximum delinquency of 120 days in July 2017 and in April 2018; and (5) were closed because Navient transferred them to another office. The Ratings Key for each account provides data on Ms. Bibbs’s payment status up until March 2018 but does not provide data beyond then. Ms. Bibbs sued Trans Union for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by inaccurately reporting her Pay Status as “>Account 120 Days Past Due<” and failing to adequately investigate and correct the information following her dispute. !° She alleges this purported inaccuracy “misleads the credit scoring used by the lending industry and thus lowers credit scores and further damages Plaintiff’s credit worthiness and credit information.”!’ She does not allege she personally has been denied credit or offered credit at an unduly high rate as a result of

this allegedly inaccurate reporting. She instead alleges she suffered unspecified “actual damages, mental anguish, humiliation, and embarrassment” as a result of Trans Union’s reporting.18 II. Analysis Ms. Bibbs sued Trans Union under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for inaccurately

reporting her Pay Status with creditor Navient as 120 days past due even though Navient closed and transferred her account resulting in zero-dollar balance owed to Navient upon transfer. Ms. Bibbs claims Trans Union violated the Act by: (1) “negligently and willfully fail[ing] to maintain and/or follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information it reported to one or more third parties”; and (2) “failing to conduct a good faith investigation and failing to permanently delete or modify inaccurate information after receiving [her] dispute.”19 Trans Union and Ms. Bibbs now cross-move for judgment on the pleadings. Trans Union argues Ms. Bibbs cannot prevail on either claim as a matter of law because Trans Union “accurately reported [Ms. Bibbs’s] six Navient student loan accounts . . . as ‘closed due to transfer.’”20 Trans Union argues its credit report does not characterize Ms. Bibbs’s pay status as

“‘currently’ 120 days past due,” rather, its reporting “clearly indicates [Ms. Bibbs] was, in the past, 120 days past due in the historical pay status section.”21 Trans Union further argues consumers, like Ms. Bibbs, may recover under the Fair Credit Reporting Act prevail only if they can plead a negligent or willful violation of the Act.22 To prevail on a negligence theory, Trans Union argues Ms. Bibbs must plead she suffered “actual damages.”23 If she cannot plead “actual damages,” she must plead Trans Union willfully violated the act to recover. Trans Union argues Ms. Bibbs has pleaded neither “actual damages” nor a “willful violation.”24 Ms. Bibbs argues we must let the jury decide whether this reporting is accurate. Or if we find we can determine accuracy as a matter of law, Ms. Bibbs argues we should grant judgment on the pleadings to her. In response to Trans Union’s argument Ms. Bibbs fails to plead “actual damages” or a willful violation, Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
BIBBS v. TRANS UNION LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bibbs-v-trans-union-llc-paed-2021.