Woman says debt paid, sues auto lender

GALVESTON - Brazoria County resident Deborah Winchester is suing TransUnion LLC for relying on what she claims to be "old and obsolete information."

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 2 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas, Winchester accuses the credit bureau of allowing her debt with Chase Auto to continue to be reported though the last date of activity pertaining to the account was April 2002.

"TransUnion did not follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy and has been reporting false and inaccurate information even after it has known or should have known the information was incorrect," the original petition says.

Recent court documents show the plaintiff incurred the debt in question sometime before July 1997 and subsequently filed for bankruptcy as well as returned the vehicle at the center of the dispute, insisting she "had whatever obligation that remained discharged."

Chase Auto, however, reported the account to TransUnion in May 2007, which Winchester discovered last year.

The suit asserts the defendant is statutorily prevented from reporting any debt beyond seven years, "but here they are reporting a debt that is nearly nine years old."

"Despite the age of the debt, TransUnion has, also, failed to implement or follow reasonable procedures to prevent any debt from being reported that was discharged in a bankruptcy," the original petition says.

Winchester claims her credit score has been negatively affected.

She consequently seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

Attorney Dennis McCarty of Hurst is representing the plaintiff, and U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt is presiding over the case.

Case No. 3:12-cv-001