Source: https://www.creditreportproblems.com/pennsylvania-complaint-against-big-threincorrectly-reporting-consumer-deceased/
Timestamp: 2017-11-20 18:58:38
Document Index: 599453638

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681']

Complaint: Big-3 Consumer Agencies Wrongly Report Consumer “Deceased”
Pennsylvania Complaint Against Big-Three Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies for Incorrectly Reporting Consumer “Deceased” when Consumer Not Deceased
The DefendantsTrans Union, LLC, Experian and Equifax Information Services LLC, national consumer reporting agency (“CRA’s”), have been selling credit reports inaccurately marking Plaintiff as deceased. When they inaccurately report a living consumer as deceased the Defendants make it practically impossible for that consumer to access credit, as they did with Plaintiff. The 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 the Defendants practice other than the generation of revenue. If the Defendants actually believed that Plaintiff was deceased, they had no legally permissible basis to sell her report. If the Defendants believed Plaintiff was alive, they knowingly sold her report with a gross inaccuracy. Moreover, The Defendants know that identity thieves use the credit information of truly deceased persons to commit credit fraud. The Defendants thus violated Plaintiff’s rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), as set forth below.
Plaintiff is an adult individual residing Prescott, Arizona.
Defendant Trans Union, LLC (Hereafter “Trans Union”) is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which is principle place of business located at 1510 Chester pike, Crum Lynne, Pennsylvania 19022
Defendant Equifax Information Services, LLC (Hereafter “Equifax”) is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which is principle place of business located at 6 Clementon Road, East, Suite A2, Gibbsboro, New Jersey 08026
Defendants sell millions of consumer reports (often called “credit reports” or “reports”) per day, and also sells credit scores. 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(e).
Defendants placed a “deceased” notation or marking on reports when they are advised from any of their many data furnishing sources that a given consumer is deceased.
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 their Trans Union, Experian and Equifax credit files, such as in cases where consumers have a freeze or fraud alert on their 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 a 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 have received and documented thousands of disputes from consumers complaining that their Trans Union, Experian and Equifax credit report had them erroneously marked as “deceased.”
Defendants know that thousands of consumers are erroneously marked as “deceased” on their Trans Union, Experian 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.
Nevertheless, Defendants employ no procedures which assure that a consumer marked as “deceased” on one of Defendants reports is, in fact, deceased.
Even consumers who dispute the erroneous “deceased” status on their Trans Union, Experian 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 will only remove a deceased consumer’s file from their credit reporting database when it is no longer valuable to Trans Union, Experian and Equifax – meaning that nobody is continuing to buy that report from Trans Union, Experian and Equifax.
Defendants have in their credit reporting databases hundreds of thousands of “deceased” trade lines corresponding to distinct credit files for individual consumers that they have marked as “deceased.”
Defendants know that the credit information and reports of truly deceased persons are used by criminals to commit identity theft or credit fraud. Indeed, identity theft using the personal identifying information of deceased consumers is known to Trans Union, Experian and Equifax to be a common and major source of identity theft.
For a period of time since 2012 Plaintiff has been marked by Defendants as “deceased” on her Equifax credit reports.
Defendants did not calculate or provide any credit score for or on Plaintiff, even though they sold reports about her to third parties marking her as “deceased.”
Plaintiff was declined for credit for a loan with Wells Fargo in August 2012. Among other transactions, known and unknown, Defendants sold credit reports marking Plaintiff as deceased to Wells Fargo on, or around, August 27, 2012 when Plaintiff applied for a loan through that business.
As a result, Defendants made it practically impossible for Plaintiff to obtain credit, and Plaintiff was indeed turned down for the loan in August 2012, as a result of Trans Union, Equifax and Experian’s reports erroneously marking Plaintiff as deceased. Plaintiff also suffered harm to credit reputation and emotional distress as a result of Defendant’s conduct.
At all times pertinent hereto, the conduct of the Defendants, as well as that of their agents, servants and/or employees, were intentional, willful, reckless, and in grossly negligent disregard for federal law and the rights of the Plaintiff herein.
Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1681n and 15 U.S.C. § 1681o, Trans Union is liable to the Plaintiff for willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on a consumer reporting agency of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b).
Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1681n and 15 U.S.C. § 1681o, Equifax is liable to the Plaintiff for willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on a consumer reporting agency of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b).
/s/ Mark D. Mailman
MARK D. MAILMAN ESQUIRE.
JOHN SOUMILAS ESQUIRE