Years of payments, zero answers - until an appeals court stepped in
An Ohio appeals court ruled a mortgage servicer must hand over loan information to a homeowner - even though she never signed the mortgage.
The Eighth District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County decided on September 24, 2026, against Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. The homeowner bought a house on East 108th Street in Cleveland in 2000. In 2005, she deeded it to another person, who borrowed $250,750 from Long Beach Mortgage Company and placed a mortgage on the home. The note was later assigned to U.S. Bank N.A., with Select Portfolio Servicing handling servicing.
In late 2006, the property was deeded back. She said in a sworn statement she had no idea a mortgage had been placed on it while it was in someone else's name.
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.
The decision was 2-1. The presiding judge dissented, arguing the homeowner was not "legally affected" by the mortgage and held only a "practical interest" - not enough for a declaratory judgment action.
The case goes back to the trial court to enter a judgment declaring the homeowner entitled to loan information.
For servicers, the ruling limits the GLBA privacy defense: when a property owner has been paying on a loan for years and faces foreclosure, a court can compel disclosure regardless of who signed the note.
