Opinion ID: 758680
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Sepulvados' Attempts to Clear their Credit Report

Text: 12 The Sepulvados began their investigation by calling the number listed for CSC/TCCP in the credit report. As suggested by the entry, TCCP is also affiliated with CSC. TCCP was formed in January 1994 as a partnership between CSC and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) for the purpose of collecting mortgage foreclosure debts. The CSC entry at issue in this case was submitted by the RTC when the debt was assigned by the RTC to CSC/TCCP in March 1994. 5 Thus, defendant CSC was in the peculiar position of acting as both the creditor and the credit reporting agency with respect to the objectionable entry. 13 That duplicity was compounded by the fact that CSC apparently maintained little, if any, functional separation between the credit reporting division and the collection division. When Mrs. Sepulvado called the number provided in the entry for CSC/TCCP on March 14, she was transferred to CSC employee Mark Lewis. Mr. Lewis represented to the Sepulvados that he was in a position to change their credit reports. Mr. Lewis was also attempting to collect the debt. 6 After some investigation, Mr. Lewis told Mrs. Sepulvado that the entry related to the $12,333 deficiency resulting from the 1988 University Savings foreclosure. Mr. Lewis did not explain to Mrs. Sepulvado why CSC was entitled to collect on that debt. 14 The following day, March 15, 1995, Mrs. Sepulvado called Mr. Lewis and offered to settle the account for ten percent of the deficiency owed. Mr. Lewis rejected the offer, but countered that CSC would accept fifty percent of the deficiency. Mrs. Sepulvado rejected the counteroffer and the conversation was ended. 15 On March 16, 1995, Mr. Sepulvado contacted Mr. Lewis and explained that the entry on the credit report was inaccurate because it did not reflect that the obligation arose from a 1988 mortgage foreclosure. Mr. Lewis responded that CSC could report the item in any manner [CSC] saw fit, that the entry could be reactivated any time, and that CSC could report the item for the rest of the Sepulvados' lives if it saw fit. Mr. Lewis also informed Mr. Sepulvado that the entry would continue to impede their attempts to get a new mortgage. In spite of Mr. Sepulvado's request that the entry be amended to reflect that the obligation related to a 1988 mortgage foreclosure and resulting deficiency, Mr. Lewis did not supplement the entry to reflect those facts, did not inform Mr. Sepulvado that he had a right to supplement the report with his own statement about the debt, and did not make any notation in the credit report that the obligation was disputed. 16 On April 10, shortly before the final mortgage decision by Texas Homestead, Mrs. Sepulvado called CSC directly for the last time to complain again that the CSC entry was inaccurate because it led the mortgage company to believe that the $12,333 entry related to a 1994 personal loan rather than a 1988 mortgage foreclosure. Once again, CSC refused to correct or supplement the entry to indicate that the obligation actually arose from the 1988 foreclosure. 17