CHARLESTON – A couple is suing Equifax Information Services after they claim the credit bureau failed to reinvestigate credit reporting errors that caused them damages.
On Sept. 26, 2005, Kimberly Vance executed a mortgage loan secured by her real property house she shares with her husband, Jimmy D. Vance, in the principal amount of $64,082, according to a complaint originally filed in Logan Circuit Court and removed to federal court June 7.
The Vances claim in 2015, they suffered a loss of income and contacted Nationstar Mortgage, their loan servicer, about loss mitigation options and were instructed that they would have to miss three payments before Nationstar could provide a loan modification to them.
The plaintiffs complied with Nationstar’s instruction, but Nationstar continued to refuse payments while the loss mitigation review was ongoing and further instructed them that once the loan modification was accepted, their credit histories would not reflect the missed payments which occurred during the loss mitigation process, according to the suit.
The Vances claim on Jan. 18, 2016, they were offered a loan modification and accepted. They have made all payments under the loan modification.
During the summer of 2016, the plaintiffs checked their credit and discovered that the mortgage payments were being incorrectly reported, according to the suit.
The Vances claim the mortgage loan was being reported as late by up to 90 days, which was false and that they were current on their payments as modified.
The plaintiffs filed written notices of the errors with the credit bureaus and were satisfied with actions taken by other credit bureaus, however, Equifax failed to take any action, according to the suit.
The Vances claim they served Equifax with written dispute letters on Oct. 19, and provided copies of their credit reports and the mortgage loan modification and requested a reinvestigation to be performed by Equifax.
Equifax has failed to reinvestigate the errors on the plaintiffs’ credit report and has failed to acknowledge their dispute in any way, according to the suit.
The Vances claim the defendants failure has caused them to be denied for credit to purchase a reliable vehicle.
The Vances are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Colten L. Fleu of Mountain State Justice.
Equifax is represented by Vincent M. Roskovensky of Clark Hill.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:17-cv-03210
