by Joshua Howell, Meagan Mihalko, Stefanie Jackman, David N. Anthony - Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor

An Illinois federal district court recently denied a creditor-defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case brought by a consumer who questioned why his debt was being reported twice — as both a tradeline with the original creditor and as a tradeline with a third-party collection agency. The court’s opinion in Kyle Fickel vs. Clearwater Credit Union et al. is a warning about the credit reporting issues that can arise when lenders refer or assign debts to collections.