Federal Court Holds Offset Against Delinquent Card Account May Violate TILA

Credit Cards TILA

On June 4, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in a pending class action denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and ruled that the plaintiffs properly alleged that a federal credit union violated the TILA and Regulation Z prohibition on offsets when it withdrew funds from members’ deposit accounts to satisfy amounts due on the members’ credit card accounts without clearly establishing a security interest in such deposit accounts. Gardner v. Montgomery County Teachers Federal Credit Union, No. 10-02781, 2012 WL 1994602 (D. Md. Jun 4, 2012). The court rejected the credit union’s argument that it had a consensual security interest in the members’ deposit funds. In doing so, the court closely analyzed the Federal Reserve Board’s Official Staff Commentary on § 226.12(d) of Regulation Z, and determined that the credit union did not meet any of the conditions necessary to claim a security interest in the deposit funds.