VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU has agreed to delete a total of $50 million of debt owed by 6,700 members in several states on repossessed autos under a federal class action suit alleging the credit union violated the Uniform Commercial Code in the sale of their vehicles.
The settlement, reached in federal court in Baltimore, will also restore the security clearance for the active military personnel involved in the multi-state class action and delete any adverse lines on the credit reports related to the auto repos, according to Bernard Kennedy, a Maryland lawyer who represented the Navy Fed members in the case.
The suit alleges that in repossessing the autos and selling them Navy Fed failed to comply with the applicable law which requires a statement concerning the intended method of disposition; a proper accounting of unpaid debt and a right of redemption. “The notices sent out by Navy Federal were deficient in that they did not follow the statutes of the state of Maryland,” Kennedy told the Credit Union Journal this morning.
Similar suits are pending against several other lenders, according to Kennedy.
Navy Fed declined to comment on the settlement.
