MARK A. KEARNEY, District Judge.
Congress provides a remedy for consumers challenging an allegedly inaccurate credit report or negligent treatment of inaccurate information by credit reporting agencies through the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Almost by its definition, the Fair Credit Reporting Act is principally focused on the conduct of consumer reporting agencies. A company servicing loans is generally not a consumer reporting agency but a furnisher of data to a consumer reporting agency. A data furnisher, such as a lender, could be liable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act if it fails to investigate or modify inaccurate information after being notified by the consumer reporting agency of any dispute. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency servicing student loans is not a consumer reporting agency and, in the amended complaint we now address, cannot be held liable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Even assuming we allow the Plaintiff to again amend his complaint to sue a data furnisher, when the Plaintiff fails to allege filing a dispute with a consumer reporting agency but instead complained to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is not a credit reporting agency, we cannot allow the Plaintiff to amend his complaint again as such an amendment is futile. We accordingly grant the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss and dismiss the amended complaint with prejudice in the accompanying Order.
Dawud Harris, a/k/a David Harris ("Harris"), sues the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency/American Education Services
Harris focuses on student loans originating in 2005, 2006, and 2007 serviced by PHEAA.
In July 2014, Harris applied for a personal loan at Philadelphia Federal Credit Union where he maintained an account.
Harris then filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") against PHEAA for "defendant's lack of responsiveness via mail or phone," and "foul play, initially alleging disability related financial abuse."
Harris alleges as a result of his CFPB complaint in which he refers to "foul play" involving a separate litigation, PHEAA did not respond "for months" and retaliated against him in connection with "the initial ADA violation" by increasing interest rates on his loans because of this litigation.
In February 2016, PHEAA notified Harris as a result of his 96-month delinquency in payment on his student loans PHEAA would write off the loans and issue a Form 1099-C for the full amount due unless Harris made payment or entered into a payment plan.
Harris alleges PHEAA violated § 1681 i of the FCRA
PHEAA moves to dismiss Harris' Amended Complaint arguing § 1681i of the FCRA applies only to consumer reporting agencies, and not PHEAA.
Congress "crafted [the FCRA] to protect consumers from the transmission of inaccurate information about them, and to establish credit reporting practices that utilize accurate, relevant, and current information in a confidential and responsible manner."
Section 1681i specifically describes the procedure to dispute the accuracy of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency. A "consumer reporting agency" is defined as:
Section 1681i(a)(1)(A) requires a consumer reporting agency to investigate disputed information on a consumer's credit report within thirty (30) days of receiving notice of the dispute. If the consumer reporting agency determines the information to be inaccurate or incomplete, it must remove the item of information from the consumer's report or modify the information, and notify the furnisher of the information of modification or deletion in the consumer's file.
The FCRA's defines "consumer reporting agency" as "(1) The consumer reporting agency must act for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative non-profit basis; (2) it must regularly engage in whole or in part in gathering or evaluating information on consumers; (3) the purpose of such activity must be the distribution of information to third parties engaged in commerce; and (4) the agency must use a facility of interstate commerce to prepare or distribute the reports."
Harris argues AES is a "tradename" for PHEAA, PHEAA is attempting to "hide behind its tradename," AES must be joined under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19, and, as "joined," PHEAA is "not only a data-furnisher, but meets the definition it provides in response to the amended complaint as a consumer reporting agency as well. . . ."
PHEAA concedes any FCRA action must be brought against it in its capacity as a "data furnisher" under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a) and (b).
Subsection 2(a) imposes duties on "furnishers of information" to, inter alia, report accurate information, an ongoing duty to correct and update inaccurate information, and a duty to provide notice of dispute.
Subsection 2(b) imposes duties on "furnishers of information" when the consumer disputes the completeness or accuracy of information on a credit report.
To state a claim under § 1681s-2(b), Harris must plead he filed a notice of dispute with a consumer reporting agency; the consumer reporting agency notified the furnisher of information of the dispute; and the furnisher of information failed to investigate and modify the inaccurate information.
The Supreme Court instructs leave to amend a complaint "shall be freely given when justice so requires."
Harris, upon further amendment, could not sufficiently plead facts establishing a claim under § 1981s-2(b) because the CFPB is not a consumer reporting agency.
We dismiss Harris' claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i with prejudice. As it applies only to consumer reporting agencies; PHEAA is not a consumer reporting agency. To the extent Harris claims PHEAA violated a duty as a furnisher of information under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a), we dismiss any such claim with prejudice because there is no private cause of action under this section. To the extent Harris claims PHEAA violated 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b), we dismiss the complaint for failing to plead the elements required to maintain such a claim. We dismiss any claim under § 1681s-2(b) with prejudice because any additional pleading based on the facts already pled would be futile.
To the extent the allegations at ¶ 8 relate to violations of the ADA, our February 19, 2016 Order (ECF Doc. No. 2) dismissed those claims, and Harris' Amended Complaint does not state an ADA claim.
Harris demands a variety of relief seeking: PHEAA "issue a 1099-C immediately . . . marked `paid in full' on all private education loans w/o transfer to another agency of any kind, renaming the loan and notifying all Lender that such loans have been forgiven"; "no further action of any sort from PHEAA/AES"; "discharge for the year of 2015 for all private education loan debt owned by PHEAA/AES"; "a letter of apology" (see 4-5 at ECF Doc. No. 4); the cancellation, discharge and forgiveness of the student loans (Id. at 9); monetary award in the amount of $30,000 (Id.;) additional money damages to be awarded to a non-party individual, non-party Community Legal Services, and non-party Community College of Philadelphia (see ¶ 17 of Response at ECF Doc. No. 11); and "default ruling in his favor" (Addendum at ¶¶ 6, 9 ECF Doc. No. 12). With the exception of