Opinion ID: 153508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiffs' Truth-in-Lending Act claim

Text: 23 In count two of their complaint, plaintiffs alleged Provident and Wendover failed to make various disclosures required under the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. § 1631 et seq. The court dismissed this claim, finding plaintiffs had failed to produce any evidence demonstrating that Wendover (the only named defendant) was a creditor or an assignee of a creditor within the meaning of the TILA. 24 We conclude that plaintiffs' claim under the TILA was properly dismissed. First, plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Wendover is a creditor under the TILA. In particular, plaintiffs failed to produce evidence indicating that Wendover regularly extends consumer credit or is the entity to whom the debt in this case is payable. See 15 U.S.C. § 1602(f) (defining creditor for purposes of TILA). Further, plaintiffs produced no evidence indicating that Wendover took assignment of the note or mortgage at issue; accordingly, Wendover cannot be held liable under the TILA as an assignee of Provident. See 15 U.S.C. § 1641 (discussing liability of assignees). Second, there is no evidence in the record that Wendover was involved in a consumer credit transaction within the meaning of the TILA. See 15 U.S.C. § 1638(a) and (b) (discussing requirements for consumer credit transactions). Although the phrase consumer credit transaction is not specifically defined in the TILA, there is no indication that the phrase was intended to encompass servicing of a debt by a third-party agent of a creditor. Finally, as suggested by Wendover, we conclude the 1987 modification was not a refinancing within the meaning of the TILA, and Provident was therefore not required to provide plaintiffs with new TILA disclosures. See 12 C.F.R. § 226.20(a)(2) (stating a reduction in the annual percentage rate with a corresponding change in the payment schedule does not constitute a refinancing for purposes of the TILA).