Judge Paul Crotty
Credit card holder Schnall’s Dec. 7, 2011, putative class suitseeking only statutory damagescharged issuer HSBC’s violation of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Regulation Z by failing to include the fees and interest charges accrued in the billing cycles ending in January and February 2010 in the year-to-date amounts disclosed in monthly statements for the billing periods from March through December 2010. The court dismissed suit. HSBC complied with TILA and Regulation Z. It complied with a Feb. 22, 2010, direction by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by aggregating the fees and interest charges in the year-to-date disclosures beginning with the billing cycled ending in March 2010, when it first included the year-to-date disclosures. Further. Schnall’s complaint failed to state a claim. Informed by Schuster v. Citibank (South Dakota) and guided by Kelen v. World Fin. Network Nat’l Bank, the court held that Schnall could not seek statutory damages for HSBC’s violations of 12 CFR §226.7(b)(6)(ii)-(iii) as alleged, which was neither identical nor substantially similar to 15 USC §1637(b)(4) or any other TILA provision, and which does not itself expressly require the year-to-date disclosures.
