Experian is accused of incorrectly including an old student loan that was paid off in October 2012 on a man's credit report.
Luther Reames Jr. filed the complaint on July 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Sunrise Credit Services Inc. and Experian Information Solutions Inc.
According to the complaint, Sunrise Credit Services began reporting an old private student loan account on Reames’ Experian credit report in February. Reames claims he repeatedly disputed the account with Sunrise Credit and the credit reporting agencies, including Experian. However, the defendants have allegedly failed to conduct a reasonable investigation and concluded that the account was accurately reported.
Reames’ complaint states that he took out the private student loan for his son through Bank of America in 2007. Due to the economic recession in 2008, he fell behind on the loan payments. Reames claims he later made his last payment on the loan in October 2012.
Reames allegedly received a debt collection letter from Sunrise Credit on Feb. 13 of this year.
Despite documentation showing that the underlying debt was charged off in 2011 and the last payment was made in October 2012, the defendants argue that the reporting is accurate.
“As a result of defendants’ conduct, plaintiff has suffered actual damages in the form of lost loan and credit opportunities, less favorable credit terms, credit defamation, time and expense dealt with repeatedly disputing the accounts and communicating with defendants, as well as emotional distress,” the complaint states.
Reames seeks an unspecified judgment against the defendants for statutory damages, punitive damages, actual damages, costs, interest, attorney fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest.
He is represented by Joshua Kersey of Morgan & Morgan in Tampa.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:20-cv-743