Source: https://www.creditreportproblems.com/pennsylvania-complaint-against-trans-union-experian/
Timestamp: 2018-02-18 20:23:24
Document Index: 171942643

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1681', '§1692', '§ 1681', '§1692', '§1331', '§1367', '§ 1681', '§1681', '§1681', '§ 1681', '§ 1681', '§1681', '§ 1692', '§ 1692']

PA Complaint Multiple Agencies for False Reporting of Accounts
TRANS UNION, LLC, EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC., EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES, LLC, RBS CITIZENS, N.A., U.S. BANK, N.A., DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES, CHASE BANK USA, N.A., and ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC
This is an action for damages brought by an individual consumer against the Defendants for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (hereafter the “FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., as amended, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (hereafter the “FDCPA”) , 15 U.S.C. §1692 et seq. and other state laws.
Jurisdiction of this Court arises under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, 15 U.S.C. §1692k(b), 28 U.S.C. §1331, 1337, and supplemental jurisdiction exists for the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1367.
Plaintiff is an adult individual who resides in Alameda, California.
Defendant Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (hereafter “Experian”) is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principal place of business located at 5 Century Drive, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054
Defendant Equifax Information Services LLC (hereafter “Equifax”) is a business entity which regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principal place of business located at 6 Clementon Road, East, Suite A2, Gibbsboro, New Jersey 08026.
Defendant, RBS Citizens, N.A. (hereafter “Citizens”) a business entity which regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principal place of business at 1234 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Defendant, U.S. Bank, N.A. (hereafter “U.S. Bank”) is a business entity which regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and which has a principal place of business located at 425 Walnut Street, Cincinati OH 45202.
Defendant, Discover Financial Services (hereafter “Discover”), is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvnania, and which has a principal place of business at 2500 Lakecook Road, Riverwoods, Illinois 60015 .
Defendant Chase Bank USA, N.A. (“Chase”) is a business entity which regularly conducts business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and which has a principal place of business at 575 Washington Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07310.
Defendant Asset Acceptance, LLC (hereafter “Asset Acceptance”) is a business entity regularly doing business in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with a principal office located at 15 East Centre Street, Deptford, NJ 08096. The principal purpose of Defendant is the collection of debts already in default using the mails and telephone, and Defendant regularly attempts to collect said debts.
The inaccurate information includes, but is not limited to, accounts with Citizens, US Bank, Discover, Chase and Asset Acceptance which were opened or used as a result of identity theft.
Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, have been reporting the inaccurate information through the issuance of false and inaccurate credit information and consumer credit reports that they have disseminated to various persons and credit grantors, both known and unknown.
Plaintiff has disputed the inaccurate information with the Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, by oral and written communications to their representatives and by following Experian’s, Equifax’s, and Trans Union’s established procedure for disputing consumer credit information since at least March 2011.
Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s efforts, Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, have sent Plaintiff correspondence indicating their intent to continue publishing the inaccurate information and Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, continue to publish and disseminate such inaccurate information to other third parties, persons, entities and credit grantors. Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, have repeatedly published and disseminated consumer reports to such third parties, including but limited to, October of 2010 through the present.
Despite Plaintiff’s efforts, Defendant, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, have never: 1) contacted the Plaintiff to follow up on, verify and/or elicit more specific information about Plaintiff’s disputes; 2) contacted any third parties that would have relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes; 3) forwarded any relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes to the entities originally furnishing the inaccurate information; 4) requested or obtained any credit applications, or other relevant documents from the entities furnishing the inaccurate information; and 5) performed any handwriting analysis.
Additionally, Plaintiff has repeatedly disputed the inaccurate information concerning the Citizens Bank, US Bank, Discover, Chase and Asset Acceptance accounts with these Defendants. Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s disputes, Citizens Bank, US Bank, Discover, Chase and Asset Acceptance has also failed to conduct timely and reasonable investigations of Plaintiff’s disputes after being contacted by the relevant credit reporting agencies concerning Plaintiff’s disputes, have willfully continued to report such inaccurate information to various credit reporting agencies, have failed to mark the above accounts as disputed and have continued to attempt to collect monies from the Plaintiff regarding the inaccurate information by the aforementioned conduct.
Notwithstanding the above, in 2010, Defendant Chase, caused a lawsuit to be filed against Plaintiff in the Superior Court of California, Alemeda County, Docket Number AG10524785 (the “lawsuit”), seeking to collect the debt at issue from Plaintiff.
Defendant Chase lacked probable cause to file the lawsuit because these Defendants knew or should have known that Plaintiff was not responsible for the debt as Plaintiff has previously advised that she was the victim of identity theft.
Defendant Chase’s filing of the lawsuit served no purpose other than to harass Plaintiff in order to force her to pay a debt that was not her responsibility.
Despite Plaintiff’s repeated requests for validation, Defendant Chase never provided Plaintiff with any information or documentation showing that Plaintiff was responsible for the debt and continued to prosecute Plaintiff through the lawsuit.
Plaintiff was thus forced to defend herself against the lawsuit
On or about April 18, 2011, Plaintiff secured a dismissal of the matter in connection with the lawsuit without objection from Defendant Chase.
Despite the fact that a dismissal with prejudice was entered in the improper collection lawsuit against Plaintiff, Chase did not cease its collection activity including reporting the debt to the consumer reporting agencies.
Plaintiff’s credit reports and file have been obtained from Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, and have been reviewed many times by prospective and existing credit grantors and extenders of credit, and the inaccurate information has been a substantial factor in precluding Plaintiff from receiving many different credit offers and opportunities, known and unknown, and from receiving the most favorable terms in financing and interest rates for credit offers that were ultimately made.
As a result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has suffered actual damages in the form of lost credit opportunities, harm to credit reputation and credit score, and emotional distress.
COUNT I – EXPERIAN, EQUIFAX & TRANSUNION
At all times pertinent hereto, Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, were “persons” and “consumer reporting agencies” as those terms are defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b) and (f).
Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681n and 15 U.S.C. §1681o, Defendants are liable to 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 and 1681i.
The conduct of Defendants, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, was 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 are 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.
COUNT II – CITZENS, US BANK DISCOVER, CHASE & ASSET ACCEPTANCE
At all times pertinent hereto, Defendants, Citizens Bank, US Bank, Discover, Chase, and Asset Acceptance, were “persons” as that term defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b).
Defendants violated sections 1681n and 1681o of the FCRA by willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on furnishers of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681s-2(b).
Defendants, Citizens Bank, US Bank, Discover, Chase and Asset Acceptance’s, conduct was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in causing the serious injuries, damages and harm to the Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above, and as a result, Defendants, Citizens Bank, US Bank, Discover, Chase and Asset Acceptance, are liable to compensate Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as such other relief, permitted by law.
Defendant Asset Acceptance is a “debt collector” as defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6) of the FDCPA.
Defendant violated the FDCPA. Defendant’s violations include, but are not limited to, violations of 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e(8), 1692e(10), and 1692f, as evidenced by the following conduct:
COUNT IV – CHASE
Defendant Chase wrongfully initiated a civil action against Plaintiff in 2010.
On or about April 2011, said suit was terminated in Plaintiff’s favor.
Defendant lacked probable cause to prosecute the action as described above.
Defendant’s continued prosecution of the lawsuit against Plaintiff was also not in an effort to bring the rightful debtor to pay his or her obligation. Indeed, Defendant pursued the action through even after having received repeated notification from Plaintiff and after having failed to verify the disputed debt.
Defendant as such acted in a knowing, willful, reckless, malicious and/or grossly negligent manner for purposes other than adjudicating the claims for which the proceeding were brought as described above.
The conduct of Defendant was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in bringing about the serious injuries, damages and harm to Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above.
COUNT V – CHASE
Defendant Chase instituted a civil proceeding and continued to prosecute Plaintiff as stated more full above.
Defendant used these proceedings for an ulterior or wrongful purpose for which the proceedings were not designed to accomplish including but not limited to harassing Plaintiff into paying for a debt for which she was not responsible to pay.