Fair Credit Reporting Act

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Tamara Frazier v. Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc.

Case No.: 22-2570

Officials: Hamilton, Brennan, and Kirsch, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Fair Credit Reporting Act

Frazier obtained a home mortgage loan, with Dovenmuehle serving as the sub-servicer that helps lenders administer mortgage loans by accepting and keeping track of payments. However, starting in October 2015, Frazier began to default on her monthly payments. Eventually, she successfully negotiated and settled her debt through a short sale of her home, which concluded in January 2016. Subsequently, Frazier’s application for a new mortgage loan was denied due to her Equifax credit report indicating late payments on her previous mortgage during the months following the short sale. In response, she disputed this information with multiple credit reporting agencies. To ensure the accuracy of their records, Equifax sent Dovenmuehle four Automated Consumer Dispute Verification forms between 2019 and 2020. Frazier argues that the revised codes provided by Dovenmuehle to Equifax regarding her Pay Rate and Account History were incorrect, highlighting how Equifax interpreted and reported the modified data in her credit reports.

Frazier proceeded to file a lawsuit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681, asserting that Dovenmuehle failed to conduct a reasonable investigation into the disputed data and provided false and misleading information to the credit reporting agencies. She relied on evidence demonstrating persistent inaccuracies in Equifax’s credit reports, which arose from the amended data. However, the district court granted Dovenmuehle summary judgment, and this decision was subsequently affirmed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. After reviewing the complete record, it was determined that no reasonable jury could conclude that Dovenmuehle had provided blatantly incorrect or significantly misleading information.

Affirmed.

Decided 07/05/23

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