In Gale v. First Franklin Loan Services, 686 F.3d 1055
(9th Cir. 2012), the Ninth Circuit held that a borrower has no
right under the federal Truth in Lending Act ("TILA") to
require a loan servicer to identify the owner of a loan obligation.
TILA requires a servicer to identify the owner of the loan only
when the servicer owns the loan, and only when the servicer owns
the loan by assignment.
In Gale, the borrower refinanced his home mortgage with
First Franklin Loan Services, which both originated the loan and
serviced it. After the borrower became delinquent, he demanded
First Franklin identify the "true" owner of the
obligation. First Franklin ignored the requests and proceeded with
foreclosure. The borrower filed suit claiming, in part, a violation
of TILA. The trial court dismissed the TILA cause of action as a
matter of law, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed.
On appeal, the borrower argued that the plain language of TILA, 15 U.S.C. Section 1641(f)(2), required First Franklin to respond to his inquiries regarding the identity of the owner of the loan. That section states that upon written request, "the servicer shall provide the obligor . . . with the name, address, and telephone number of the owner of the obligation . . ." The Ninth Circuit explained that this provision does not apply to all loan servicers, but only those servicers who are owners of the loan by assignment after loan origination. In this case, First Franklin was both the original lender and the servicer, so this section did not apply.
The Ninth Circuit also noted that, since a 2010 amendment to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, all servicers must identify the owner of a real estate loan if requested, under all circumstances. This change, however, does not apply retroactively to claims (like the claim in Gale) that accrued prior to 2010.
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