Gross v. Private Nat'l Mortg. Acceptance Co., LLC

Gross v. Private Nat'l Mortg. Acceptance Co., LLC

Opinion

 [*424]  MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

COGAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Yaakov Gross brought this action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., alleging that an entry on his credit report prepared by defendant TransUnion, LLC is inaccurate and misleading. The entry concerns his mortgage loan with the other defendant, Private National Mortgage Acceptance Company, LLC ("PNMAC"). It reports a "Pay Status" of "30 Days Past Due." Plaintiff argues that this entry is inaccurate because it suggests that the account is currently past due, even though the account has been transferred to another lender and he is no longer obligated to make payments to PNMAC.

TransUnion has moved to dismiss. It argues that, when read in context, the entry shows that the account was historically  [*425]  past due. Because plaintiff has [**2]  failed to allege facts plausibly showing that the entry is materially misleading, the motion to dismiss is granted.

BACKGROUND

In the First Amended Complaint, plaintiff alleges that at some point in the past, PNMAC was servicing his residential mortgage. In October 2018, PNMAC transferred the account to another lender. The circumstances of that transfer are not entirely clear; plaintiff alleges only that "the debt had been transferred, sold, purchased, refinanced, consolidated or otherwise acquired by another loan servicer." In any event, plaintiff alleges that as a result of the transfer, he was no longer obligated to make payments to PNMAC.

Plaintiff further alleges that his credit report shows the following information:

This report shows that the balance is $0; that the last payment made was in September 2018; that the account was last updated in October 2018; and that the account was transferred to another lender.¹

Plaintiff zeroes in on the "Pay Status" of "30 Days Past Due Date." He argues that this entry suggests that the account is currently 30 days past due, but the account is not, in fact, past due because the account has been transferred to another lender and he is no longer [**3]  obligated to make payments to PNMAC. In short, says plaintiff, the "Pay Status" entry "is false and misleading because [he] is not currently late on any obligations to PNMAC."

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