LexisNexis Class Action Says Accurint Reports Include Outdated Info

LexisNexis Risk & Analytics Solutions Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by furnishing a consumer report that contained outdated information to a lender, and consequently Capital One NA denied the plaintiff’s home equity loan.

Plaintiff Albert Douglas, who describes himself as a 100 percent disabled veteran, asserts in the LexisNexis class action lawsuit that he was denied a $45,000 home equity line of credit after LexisNexis provided Capital One with a consumer report that contained two bankruptcies that had reportedly been discharged more than a decade earlier.

According to the LexisNexis class action lawsuit, the FCRA prohibits consumer reporting agencies from providing reports that contain discrepancies that were resolved more than 10 years prior. By creating the FCRA, “Congress sought to ensure that ‘irrelevant and outdated information’ was removed from consumers’ files,” the FCRA class action lawsuit explains.

Although LexisNexis is a consumer reporting agency that allegedly has “amassed the largest, most comprehensive base of information in the world today,” Douglas says in the FCRA class action lawsuit that LexisNexis furnishes consumer reports that contain obsolete information.

“Defendant’s practices violate a fundamental protection afforded to consumers under the FCRA, are contrary to the unambiguous language of the statute, and are counter to longstanding judicial and regulatory guidance,” the LexisNexis FCRA class action lawsuit states.

Douglas says he was preapproved last year for the $45,000 home equity line of credit after Capital One received his credit reports from Equifax and Experian. However, in July 2016, Capital One allegedly sent him a letter informing him that the loan was denied due to earlier bankruptcies. When he questioned Capital One about the consumer report upon which the bank based its decision, Douglas was reportedly told that the report was furnished by LexisNexis.

According to the FCRA class action lawsuit, Douglas contacted LexisNexis to dispute the information contained in the credit report and inquired about the inclusion of bankruptcies in the report. The information was reportedly included in an “Accurint Person Report,” and Douglas says he was told that Accurint is not a consumer reporting agency and is therefore not governed by the FCRA.

“Tellingly, despite its disclaimer that it is not a consumer reporting agency, Defendant included a copy of the ‘Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act’—a disclosure required by the FCRA when a consumer reporting agency responds to a request for a file,” the LexisNexis class action lawsuit states.

By filing the LexisNexis FCRA class action lawsuit, Douglas seeks to represent himself and a Class of natural persons in the United States who were the subject of an Accurint Report furnished by LexisNexis to a third party and the Accurint report contained information about a bankruptcy with a disposition older than 10 years.

He also seeks to represent a Class of consumers who requested a copy of their file from LexisNexis and then requested a copy of their Accurint file which did not include the identification of people who procured the consumer’s report within the past year.

Douglas is represented by Kristi C. Kelly and Andrew J. Guzzo of Kelly & Crandall PLC.

The LexisNexis FCRA Class Action Lawsuit is Albert Douglas v. LexisNexis Risk & Analytics Solutions Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-00301, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.