Select Portfolio Servicing can’t hide loan terms from homeowner who kept paying
She made monthly payments to Select Portfolio Servicing for years to stave off foreclosure. The servicer told her how much to pay and how to submit. That went on until May 2024, when a default notice warned foreclosure was possible.
She contacted Select Portfolio Servicing about the loan terms. The servicer refused, saying it could not share any loan information because she was not a party to the mortgage. She sued for a declaration that she had a right to the information.
The trial court sided with the servicer, which argued it owed no obligation to a non-signatory and that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)- the federal law restricting financial institutions from sharing customer data – barred disclosure.
The appeals court reversed, finding Ohio’s Declaratory Judgment Act covers anyone whose rights are affected by a contract, not just signatories. Because the mortgage encumbers the homeowner’s property and she had paid on it for years, her property rights were at stake.
On privacy, the court pointed to 15 U.S.C. 6802(e)(8), which allows disclosure to comply with laws or to respond to judicial process. When a court orders production, the GLBA does not block compliance.
