Kuns v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, Case No. 13-55562, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8416 (9th Cir. May 21, 2015)
We all know or should know how important credit reports and credit scores are. And recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the protections our California legislature provided to consumers, making sure credit reports are accurate and not misleading.
Jeffrey Kuns had filed a lawsuit against Ocwen Loan Servicing alleging that because his former home was bought with a purchase money mortgage (that means the loan proceeds were used only to purchase the home and not for other expenditures like paying off pre-existing debts, etc.) and sold through a foreclosure, he had no personal liability for the deficiency that resulted from the foreclosure sale.
Yet Ocwen was still reporting a deficiency balance to the credit reporting agencies such as Equifax.
On May 21, 2015, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal restated its earlier ruling where the Court held “that an item on a credit report can be ‘incomplete or inaccurate’ … because it is misleading in such a way and to such an extent that it can be expected to adversely affect credit decisions.'” The Court went on to state that, “on this basis, we interpret the [law] as requiring that furnishers of credit information such as Ocwen not only refrain from making any reports that are obviously wrong or missing crucial data, but also that the reports not contain information that is materially misleading.
So what does this mean? First, the Plaintiff, Mr. Kuns’ case was not dismissed. But, perhaps more importantly, for the other thousands of consumers that have gone through a foreclosure or short sale and are also protected by similar anti-deficiency statutes, credit reports must not be misleading, incomplete, or inaccurate.
For additional information, please call Credit Report Attorney, Ben Dupre at 408-874-5300