District Court lets credit inquiry suit go forward

Courts FCRA Credit Report Credit Reporting Agency

On February 19, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied a bank’s renewed motion to dismiss FCRA claims by a consumer alleging the bank accessed his credit report without a permissible purpose. Specifically, the consumer alleged his credit report included two credit inquires by the bank for “promotional” purposes but that he never received any offers of credit from the bank. According to the consumer, a bank representative told him to dispute the “illegitimate” credit inquiry with the credit reporting agency, and so he filed suit. The bank moved to dismiss, arguing the facts allegedly failed to establish the bank obtained the credit report without a permissible purpose. The court, however, held that the consumer’s allegations that he did not receive an offer of credit and that a representative advised him the inquiry was illegitimate were sufficient to establish—at the motion to dismiss stage—that no firm offer of credit was extended. In response to the bank’s argument that the consumer’s alleged emotional distress damages based on “invasion of privacy” were implausible—because they would have occurred whether or not there was a permissible purpose for the credit pull—the court noted that unauthorized credit disclosures have been “long seen as injurious,” and that the bank cannot attack the harm experienced by the consumer simply because the “harm would still have existed if [the bank] had acted lawfully.”