This week the Eighth Circuit affirmed a Minnesota district court order granting summary judgment to a mortgage company, holding that it complied with all of its responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(b), because it investigated dispute notices sent to it by credit reporting agencies and verified the plaintiff’s account was being reported correctly. Anderson v. EMC Mortgage Corp., – F.3d –, 2011 WL 409095 (8th Cir. Feb. 9, 2011).
Plaintiff-Appellant Chad Anderson (“Anderson”) filed the underlying action against Defendant-Appellee EMC Mortgage Corp. (“EMC”) and others (who were separately dismissed prior to the appeal) after a dispute arose over whether Anderson had timely made a mortgage payment to EMC in December 2006. The facts revealed that Anderson did in fact timely mail his December 2006 payment to EMC, which even credited his account. However, the check was subsequently lost and EMC did not present a substitute check to Anderson’s bank until mid-March 2007. In the interim, Anderson had made timely January, February and March 2007 payments to EMC, and had also emptied and closed the bank account on which the December check had been drawn. The substitute check was subsequently refused when EMC presented it to Anderson’s bank in March 2007. EMC, in turn, “uncredited” the December payment and began reporting Anderson’s account as more than 30 days past due. After significant back-and-forth with EMC over the status of his account, Anderson made an extra payment in May to bring his account current, but not before, he alleged, the effect on his credit rating led to him losing favorable financing for a real estate purchase.