Source: https://www.creditreportproblems.com/violating-consumer-rights-fcra/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 16:11:33+00:00

Document:
Plaintiff, ) Civil Action No.
1. Defendants Trans Union LLC (Trans Union) and Equifax Information Services, LLC. (Equifax), two national consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), have been selling credit reports inaccurately marking Plaintiff as deceased. When they inaccurately report a living consumer as deceased, Defendants make it practically impossible for that consumer to access credit, as they did with Jane Doe . Defendants’ practices also harm the businesses that purchase their reports; as such companies cannot process credit applications due to the applicant’s lack of a credit score. There is no good faith rationale to explain Defendants’ practices other than the generation of revenue. If Defendants actually believed that Ms. Doe was deceased, they had no legally permissible basis to sell her report. If Defendants believed Ms. Doe was alive, they knowingly sold her report with a gross inaccuracy. Moreover, Defendants know that identity thieves use the credit information of truly deceased persons to commit credit fraud. Defendants thus violated Plaintiff’s rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as set forth below.
2. Jurisdiction of this Court arises under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, 28 U.S.C. §1331, 1337, and supplemental jurisdiction exists for the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1367.
Venue lies properly in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1391(b).
Plaintiff is an adult individual who resides in Texas.
Defendant Trans Union, LLC is a business entity which regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principal place of business located at 1510 Chester Pike, Crum Lynne, PA 19022.
Defendant, Equifax Information Services, LLC is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principle place of business at 6 Clementon Road, East, Suite A2, Gibbsboro, New Jersey 08026.
Defendants are regulated as “consumer reporting agencies” (CRAs) under the FCRA. 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(e).
Pursuant to the FCRA, Defendants must maintain reasonable procedures to assure that reports are only sold for legitimate “permissible purposes.” 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e(a) and 1681b.
In some cases, in order to assure accuracy, Defendants send letters and/or other communications to consumers when certain information that may be considered suspicious or unreliable is furnished about said consumers to be placed in its credit files, such as in cases where consumers have a freeze or fraud alert on its credit report, or in accordance with certain state laws, such as the consumer laws of Colorado. But Defendants have no similar procedure to notify the consumers (such as next of kin or executor or administrator of the consumer’s estate) when an “X” deceased code is furnished to Defendants to be placed in said consumer’s credit file or report.
Upon Defendants’ reports with a “deceased” mark sold to third parties Defendants never calculate or provides a credit score for that consumer.
Defendants know that thousands of consumers are erroneously marked as “deceased” on their Trans Union and Equifax credit reports via an erroneous furnishing of the “X” code, but said consumers are not on the Death Master File and are, in fact, alive.
Even consumers who dispute the erroneous “deceased” status on their Trans Union and Equifax credit reports continue to be erroneously marked as deceased unless the furnishing source which provided the erroneous “X” code in the first instance decides to change the code.
Defendants have no independent procedures to limit or stop the furnishing of reports to third parties for consumers whom they have marked as “deceased” under any circumstances.
Nor do Defendants employ any procedures to limit or stop the furnishing of reports to third parties for consumers whom they have marked as “deceased” under any circumstances.
Defendants will only remove a deceased consumer’s file from their credit reporting database when they are no longer valuable to them – meaning that nobody is continuing to buy that report from Defendant.
Defendants charge third parties a fee for reports with a mark that a consumer is deceased (reports on the deceased) as they would for any other report.
Defendants warn the relatives of truly deceased consumers that identity theft can be committed using the credit reports and information of the deceased, and require relatives to provide a death certificate or executorship papers, among other proofs, before accessing the deceased consumer’s credit information or report.
From at least March 2012, Plaintiff was marked by Defendants as “deceased” on her Trans Union and Equifax credit reports.
Defendant Trans Union has also sold reports about Plaintiff to third parties stating that Plaintiff filed a bankruptcy, including to Citibank on or about March 16, 2012 and April 12, 2012.
Plaintiff has never filed for bankruptcy.
At all times pertinent hereto, the Defendants’ conduct, as well as that of their agents, servants and/or employees, was intentional, willful, reckless, and in grossly negligent disregard for federal law and the Plaintiff’s rights herein.
and as for Defendant Tans Union only, failing to clearly and accurately disclose to Plaintiff all information in Plaintiff’s credit file at the time of Plaintiff’s request for the same, in violation of 15 U.S.C. §1681g(a).
The conduct of Defendants were a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in bringing about the serious injuries, actual damages and harm to the Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above and, as a result, Defendants were liable to the Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with the attorneys’ fees and the costs of litigation, as well as such further relief, as may be permitted by law.
61. Plaintiff demands trial by jury on all issues so triable.
(h) Such other and further relief as may be necessary, just and proper.

References: § 1681
 §1331
 §1367
 §1391
 § 1681
 §1681