Hard inquiry without permission A mortgage company pulled my three reports, but I never authorized it. When I tracked them down at first they said it was pulled by mistake. But later they found out that one of their loan officers who had a relationship with me when she worked for a different company 5 months ago, pulled the report. I asked them to remove it and they said it could take 40-60 days, and there is no guarantee the inquiry will come off. Then they asked me to sign a document giving some Credit Repair Company authorization to dispute the inquiries on my behalf. What can I do about this?
Hard inquiry without permission Here is what I would tell them... They have 5 days to make sure that the inquiries are deleted, or they will pay $3,000.00 for the three non-permissible purpose pulls, and their employee who pulled the inquiries will spend up to 2 years in prison for the non-permissible purpose pull for each one. Now, if they want to spend $3,000.00, and up to 6 years in prison, be your guest.
Re: Hard inquiry without permission Does the law state that? How do I enforce it. Where do I file my complaint? BBB? FTC?
Hard inquiry without permission § 616. Civil liability for willful noncompliance [15 U.S.C. § 1681n] (a) In general. Any person who willfully fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this title with respect to any consumer is liable to that consumer in an amount equal to the sum of (1)(A) any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure or damages of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000; or (B) in the case of liability of a natural person for obtaining a consumer report under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose, actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure or $1,000, whichever is greater; (2) such amount of punitive damages as the court may allow; and (3) in the case of any successful action to enforce any liability under this section, the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court. (b) Civil liability for knowing noncompliance. Any person who obtains a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose shall be liable to the consumer reporting agency for actual damages sustained by the consumer reporting agency or $1,000, whichever is greater. (c) Attorney's fees. Upon a finding by the court that an unsuccessful pleading, motion, or other paper filed in connection with an action under this section was filed in bad faith or for purposes of harassment, the court shall award to the prevailing party attorney's fees reasonable in relation to the work expended in responding to the pleading, motion, or other paper. § 619. Obtaining information under false pretenses [15 U.S.C. § 1681q] Any person who knowingly and willfully obtains information on a consumer from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.
Hard inquiry without permission Thanks for that information. How do I start this, because they are NOT going to remove the inquiries unless a sign a document that they faxed over to me, giving some credit repair agency permission to disput. Should I file something in small claims court.
Hard inquiry without permission Basically, the $3,000.00 you would file a lawsuit against them, both the company, and the employee personally for pulling your credit file without a permissible purpose. You would need to file some criminal complaint against the employee, for the prison & fines under the second section. But if they know, that you know that prison time & additional government fines are possible, they should rush to expediently resolve it to your satisfaction.
Re: Hard inquiry without permission They are acting as if they can't remove it without using this credit repair service. So should I approach it at this point with a letter that states I intend to sue and file criminal charges. Or should I just file the paperwork. I've spoken with them numereous times over the past 3 weeks and I have not gotten anywhere. They stated that it won't make my scores drop by much and that the only thing they can do for me is dispute it at the bureau. I ask them to go back to and reverse what they did and they said they can't do that.
Hard inquiry without permission By demanding that a Credit Repair Organization be brought into this, they're making additional requirements then the law allows. Chances are that the agreement also requires you to pay for the services of the CRO. (Which is probably affiliated with them so you are paying them to delete their own illegal inquiry.) I would draft an intent to sue letter up, find their registered agent for your state, and send the intent to sue letter demanding the immediate deletion, and re-imbursement for your time, expenses, and agravation in the amount of $1,000.00 (if the inquiries are deleted within 5 days), $3,000.00 (if the inquiries are not deleted within 5 days). And advise them that their employee's and officers are in willfull violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and have knowingly obtaining a consumer report under false pretenses and without a permissible purpose, and are subject to the civil damages abovestated, as well as criminal fines, and incarceration in accordance with 15 U.S.C. § 1681q. If you can get the court papers easily, fill them out, naming the company, and their employee personally, and listing as the cause of damage that "the company, and their employee knowingly obtaining a consumer report under false pretenses and without a permissible purpose, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681b and you are seeking damages in accordance with 15 U.S.C. § 1681n", and send a copy of them with the intent to sue letter. Keep in mind though that you may not be able to sue them in a lower jurisdiction than federal court, it depends on if all of the FACTA lawsuit jurisdiction provisions are in effect currently or not.
Hard inquiry without permission The whole purpose of the Credit Repair Organization Act, is that a CRO can not do anything which we ourselves can not do. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/04/croa2.htm There isn't a magic wand which the CRO can wave to make the inquiries delete, all it takes is one little message from the puller to the CRA to (if not delete) soften the inquiries so that they won't affect your score. So, if the puller is forcing you to go to the step of providing them with an ITS, provide a copy of the ITS, and the prepared suit to each of the three CRA's, demanding the immediate deletion of the inquiry, and recommending that they take advantage of their own remedies as stated in 15 U.S.C. § 1681n (b) against the puller. That'll hit the puller to the tune of an additional $3,000.00, if the CRA's decide to take the opportunity to avail themselves of that recourse.
Hard inquiry without permission Their claim that they have to get it removed thru some credit repair organization is a lot of BS. This is a dispute between them and you, and there is no legal or practical reason to involve some 3rd party. If they know the report was pulled in error, contrary to their certification to the CRA, demand that they notify the CRA. Demand, in writing, that they notify the CRA that the report was pulled without permissible purpose, and contrary to their certification to the CRA, should be removed from view by other report users for that reason, and demand that they send you a copy of their notification of the CRA. Also request that they send you all copies of your credit reports in their possession, since they have no legal right to have them. Simultaneously notify the CRA that the inquiry was done without PP, that the company has admitted to doing so, and that they must remove it immediately. (let them eat crow.) You have your legal remedies to fall back on, should they fail to comply. Banks are known to fire employees who pull reports of people they know without PP. This borders on cyber-stalking. CRAs have removed inquiries done by mistake, or without PP. They are required to maintain procedures to ensure that inquiries are done only with PP, which they do by requiring certification of the PP from their users. The CRA's legal requirement is that the inquiries are visible to you the consumer. They have no legal requirement to show illegal inquiries to any others.
Hard inquiry without permission I can understand why they might want to handle it as a CRA dispute. This would allow them to "fail to reply", possibly resulting in removal, without admitting they or their employee did anything wrong. However, the CRA may not choose to process the dispute from the credit repair company, considering it frivilous, where they generally have removed inquiries when notified by the puller. Keep it clean. Do not confuse this with "credit repair"; it is not. They made the error, their employee's action was willful, they have the legal duty to notify the CRA, they have the liability whether it is removed or not. You need to dispute with the CRA, and demand that the mortgage company correct, with copies of their correction request sent to you. You are legally right, and sometimes you have to defend your legal boundaries.
