I sent FedLoan Servicing a rather strongly worded letter yesterday stating that their refusal to remove lates on my account when a forbearance was later applied to cover those dates is in violation of FCRA 623(a)(2), and included the FTC opinion that states furnishers are required to report updated information, even if the original reporting was correct at the time it was reported.
In the letter, I gave 'em 14 days to update the reported history or I will escalate to CFPB and FTC, and/or pursue legal action.
Gonna see if anything comes of this round. If not, guess it's on to round #4, by my count.
EDIT: Here's the FTC advisory opinion I cited, and here's the letter I sent:
This correspondence is in response to the February 16, 2016 letter I sent regarding my goodwill request to have late payments removed from my credit score report. By failing to update previously reported information, FedLoan Servicing is in violation of Section 623(a)(2) of the FCRA.
I have attached an FTC advisory opinion which interprets Section 623(a)(2) of the FCRA. The issue posed in the advisory opinion is how a lender is to handle a situation when subsequent information updates a report that was allegedly accurate when it was made but no longer is accurate in the present time (i.e., the identical situation I am currently in).
The advisory opinion states that Section 623(a)(2) of the FCRA addresses the duty to correct and update information by “furnishers,” or persons who furnish information to consumer reporting agencies (“CRA”) such as credit bureaus. In particular, this section requires a person that “has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate” to “promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination” and provide any information needed to make it complete and accurate. Thus, on its face, this provision requires a furnisher to provide corrected or updated information to the consumer reporting agency that it had reported to originally. This duty extends to all student loan accounts reported to CRAs, regardless of whether they were accurate at one point, because the section requires the furnisher both to “update” accounts as well as to “correct.”
FedLoan Servicing communication regarding retroactive forbearances states “If the forbearance was applied retroactively to cover a period of delinquency, any information previously reported to each nationwide consumer reporting agency will remain.” However, Section 623(a)(2) clearly shows that the reports must be updated/corrected regardless of whether they were accurate at one point.
All of my FedLoan accounts that were part of the July-December 2013 late payments show forbearance status from from 02/28/2013 through 01/27/2014. Therefore, my credit reports do not currently accurately reflect previous payment statuses as FedLoan Servicing has recorded them. I am thus requesting that in compliance with Section 623(a)(2) of the FCRA that the accounts showing late payments in July-December 2013 be updated and/or corrected and removed.
In the event that these reports are not immediately updated to accurately reflect my current payment status during July-December 2013, I intend to file official complaints with the FTC, CFPB, and pursue other legal routes if necessary.
Please respond within 14 days of the date of this letter with an update to this matter.
Very Truly Yours,
habu987
