On February 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment order in favor of a mortgage servicer in a dispute under the FCRA. The plaintiffs sued their servicer, alleging it furnished inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies and failed to conduct a reasonable investigation after the plaintiffs disputed a late payment. After the plaintiffs filed for bankruptcy in March 2020 and reaffirmed their loan, the servicer required the plaintiffs to pay by mail. The servicer instructed the plaintiffs in a welcome letter to “make checks payable to [the servicer]” and to “include your mortgage loan number . . . on the check.”
While the plaintiffs mailed their check on time, they failed to include their mortgage loan number. The servicer marked the payment as more than 30 days late since their initial check did not comply with the servicer’s instructions. The court sided with the servicer, finding there was no material dispute of fact and that the reported information was accurate. The court held that the servicer’s investigation, which reviewed account history and verified the payment status, satisfied applicable requirements under the FCRA. The plaintiffs’ arguments related to ambiguous payment instructions and heightened accuracy standards were rejected because they were raised for the first time on appeal.
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