Even MORE reading material for those so inclined. This is much more then just the FCRA - but Consumer Affairs Laws and Regulations from the Office of Thrift Supervision which is the regulator for many banks. I assume that other regulators have a document something like this. Of interest (to me anyway) is the internal audit procedures that banks that fall under this regulator must perform. Next up, I'm attempting to see if I can get copies of these internal audits (doubtful) to see if the bank I'm "possibly" suing has been in or out of compliance in the past. Not sure what I'm looking for, or where I'm going with this, but if I can find a trend, it may make my case stronger - if I choose to go that route. http://www.ots.treas.gov/DOCS/48664.PDF Just passing this on as an FYI. .
From the above document: "Consumer reporting agencies may not prohibit the disclosure of the contents of a consumer report to the consumer by the user of the report, if adverse action has been taken by the user based in whole or in part on the report."
I noticed that part also. I'm trying to determine if "disclosure" means they can't prevent the "user" from furnishing a copy of the report ... or preventing the "user" from notifying the consumer of where the info came from, and what it said.
It may be that lenders are frequently misapplying a part of a CRA contract provision originally intended to limit unlawful distribution of a credit report beyond the original certified purpose. Whether this is due to lender misinformation or mistraining, or whether the CRAs are part of this problem, I don't know. When there is a difference between what the lender report shows, and what the CRA provides to the consumer, how else can the discrepancy or error be resolved except by disclosing the lender's report to the consumer? The whole purpose of the FCRA is to protect the consumer from errors by providing complete access to the information and a mechanism to correct errors. FCRA specifically allows the consumer access to this information from the CRA, and specifically prohibits the CRA from denying the consumer access to the lender's report. I think the intent is clear, yet people are still getting the run around and paying higher interest rates or being declined. Repeatedly, people report that there is something in the lender report, but the lender cannot give them a copy, yet they will let them "peak" at it, as if this is somehow not quite legal. This state of affairs encourages the predatory behavior of lenders who claim that negative or nebulous credit report data, that the consumer does not have the right to look at, is the cause for charging higher rates to a consumer.
This section refers to "disclosure of the contents". Other sections specifically require notifying of an adverse action due to credit information, with the CRA source required to be specified (in writing), so that the consumer can request a report from the CRA. This would appear to emphasize that "disclosure of the contents" is not just who the CRA was, but means the actual contents of the report.
I tend to agree with you. What I'm hearing from Lenders, is that their contract with the CRA's prevent them from giving a copy of the report to the consumer. One Lender told me flat out back in July that it was illegal to give me a copy. With my knew knowledge, I emailed her and quoted the FCRA in my email. She apologized for her 'mis-statement' and informed me that she had to forward my email to her Supervisor. She got back to me the same day and said it was the Lenders legal department that had set the 'policy' of not giving out the report based on their interpretation of the contract which they signed with the CRA's. She did however, type in all the negative tradelines and statuses of what she had found in the tri-merged report. When I thanked her, but told her that still didn't allow me to know which CRA was reporting what - she just told me that I had to contact them for copies of my report. It sort of went over her head that I had already done that - which is why I needed what she had. What I have does not show the inaccuracies that hers does. Also, the report that she ran co-mingled my DW's info with mine.
If the lender interprets their contract with the CRA as requiring them not to disclose to the consumer, then the CRA's contract contains an illegal requirement, and the lender is assisting the CRA in this violation of Federal law. Send a complaint to FTC that your lender has not provided a complete disclosure of the contents of your credit report to you and that this has made it difficult to determine the sources of derogatory information, because they say the CRA contracts don't allow it, contrary to the specific wording of 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681e (c). Let the CRAs backpedal on what their contracts say, if they actually say this.
Contract clauses contrary to law are not enforcible. It is no more proper for them to give you this excuse than it is for a home seller to not sell to the "wrong" races because of illegal CC&Rs.
Thanks ontrack - I think I will do that (send letter to the FTC). Here's the quote from the lender: "I forwarded your email to my supervisor. He advised that you are correct, that the term "illegal" was used incorrectly. I apologize for that. It is our company policy as dictated by our legal department, not to provide copies of credit reports. Per compliance procedures 'These procedures shall require that prospective users of the information identify themselves, certify the purposes for which the information is sought, and certify that the information will be used for no other purpose.' There is no way to properly verify this over the phone or thru email. Therefore I can not release the credit report. However, I can tell you the late dates that have been reported by the credit bureaus." The lender was an online mtg lender. So there is no office to go into. .
If the lender interprets their contract with the CRA as requiring them not to disclose to the consumer, then the CRA's contract contains an illegal requirement, and the lender is assisting the CRA in this violation of Federal law. ontrack ============= Also any clause in a contract that is in violation of law is unenforceable.
In the past, with other lenders, I have received copies of my credit report from them. So I was attempting to ascertain if this was something new that the CRA's have in their contracts with the lenders - or was I just dealing with a paranoid lender this time.
She got back to me the same day and said it was the Lenders legal department that had set the 'policy' of not giving out the report 1*based on their interpretation of the contract which they signed with the CRA's. bmm3 [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ *********************** 1* Great: Now if only their interpretation of the law was that good.
The CRA contract language that they are using in their "policy" applies to "users" of credit reports, i.e.: lenders or others who obtain credit reports from CRAs, not to "consumers". The FCRA defines and uses these terms distinctly. Since the effect of this contract language, placed there by the CRA, is to deny you, the consumer, disclosure of their copy to you, treat it as a violation by both the CRA and the lender, and report it. I would take the following position: They have, presumably, accepted fees from you to apply for a loan. Since they have prepared or used an erroneous report, you have shown them that it has discrepancies from what the CRAs are providing you, and they have not assisted you in its correction, they have been negligent, have not used reasonable care in their processing of your application and credit report data, and have not acted in good faith to process your loan. Ask for your fees back if they will not comply. You could do a good "business" advertising loans, accepting fees, and finding reasons to not loan. Their excuses are BS, since the CRAs handle the same issues every day.
Although they may be merely honest but incompetant, what is the difference between what has happened and an advance fee loan scam with some window dressing?
No fee's, so I'm not out any money. The lender was E-Loan. They hit my cc for an appraisal fee, but they credited it back the following month. What I am out, is the difference between my current 30 year 7.75% loan, and the refinanced 15 year 4.50% loan. This was a considerable amount of money. .
