Apologies in advance for the length of this post. In 2003, we filed bankruptcy, and agreed to continue making mortgage payments for the length of our loan (signed a statement of intention). We did not sign a reaffirmation as our attorney at the time advised us not to (not in our best interest). We recently learned that our mortgage co has not reported on our open account since our bankruptcy discharge. (our fault for not having checked our reports, won't be making that mistake again). By not reporting, I mean they have omitted all relevant and pertinent information about our loan, amount, dates, payment history, and instead reported "included in bankruptcy" and all relevant info on the account is left blank or blatantly inaccurate. There is zero payment history reported. Our mortgage account is our only open and active account at this time. Despite the bankruptcy, our credit history has remained good, accounts in good standing, paid accounts, etc. We briefly inquired of our mortgage co by phone; they stated due to our bankruptcy, they weren't required to report on our account and basically threatened us to reopen our bankruptcy and reaffirm and THEN they would report, but ONLY from the date they received our reaffirmation signature (we refuse to do so, based on our attorney's counsel). We did not continue any further communication with them and notified our attorney at once. We sent dispute letters to all 3 CRA's with legitimate supporting documents and requested each of them to investigate and requested they include the relevant information on our mortgage account. We were very specific about what we requested to be included, and we only asked one entry to be deleted, "date closed" because it remains an open account, it was never closed. We have never missed a payment, we are always on time. We have over a decade of favorable activity on this account. We got Transunion's "investigation complete" letter today. They DELETED the entire account! There is no entry whatsoever on the new report for our open mortgage account! What is my next step, ask for them to re-investigate this account? More importantly, how many times can we dispute this item? It's like whomever investigated our dispute letter never even read our letter, we had pages upon pages of documents supporting our activity on this account and they delete the entire account?! Btw, Transunion's investigation letter only included the mortgage co's name and our account number, no phone number, no address, no nothing. In the letter, they did state we could request a description of how the investigation was conducted along with the furnisher's information. We will be requesting MoV but is that enough before we get our attorney to take over? We are expecting several other letters from CRA's, since we had to send them as individuals, despite our credit history being mostly joint accounts. Should I expect the same from all the others? Is the mortgage co really doing this? Transunion received our dispute letter/documents on Jan 13. The date of the investigation complete letter was dated Jan 14. The envelope for their investigation complete letter was postmarked Jan 16. Is this standard investigation time? Could the mortgage co have received the info from Transunion, the mortgage co investigated as required by law for them to do so, send back the info to Transunion, then Transunion send us their investigation letter all in 3 days? Or, is this just another of their infamous coding into their computers to avoid the real work of an real investigation? Most importantly, we had all documentation proving activity on the account (and in good standing), how can the mortgage co get away with this if THEY told Transunion to DELETE the entire account? How can Transunion get away with this? Thank you for any advice.
Companies aren't required to report anything to the credit bureaus if they don't want to, but what they do report must be accurate according to the FCRA. So, if I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds to me like they were reporting inaccurate information since the mortgage was not included in the bankruptcy, but now it's just been deleted completely so nothing at all is reported. Of course, you can request information from the CRA for how the investigation was completed and dispute it as much as you'd like. However, if the mortgage company chooses not to report any information or verify the debt, then you'll likely have to work directly with them to convince them to report to the CRAs on your behalf.
Joshua, thank you for taking the time to respond. According to our attorney, the mortgage company needs to report, and a reaffirmation agreement is not necessary in order for them to report. We have ceased contact with the mortgage co per counsel from the attorney (but still paying our mortgage). They refused to respond appropriately to our complaints initially, it appears litigation is going to be our only choice. Btw, some companies are not required to report, but as a general rule, most mortgage companies are. In order to absolve themselves from reporting, they have to have a pretty specific and reasonable "policy" that is acceptable per the FCRA, which clearly, they don't have, and thus far have failed to produce and provide such policy. We have several other CRA "investigation" letters that arrived since my initial post. Every single one of them deleted the mortgage tradeline, as well as another major, favorable account (which was not even disputed, save for a request to change a date - it was not up for automatic removal under any circumstances). Since this is my first time in the dispute process, I have learned some valuable things about the CRA's: They don't investigate, and they certainly do NOT send your supporting documents on to the furnisher (which is required by law). I know they use their automated computer code system and it is not specific enough to determine if a dispute is valid or not. The furnisher can enter whatever code their lazy personnel feel like on any given day and as far as the CRA's are concerned, that's it, final, end of story. All of the supporting documents a consumer sends are for no purpose other than for you to leave a paper trail in the event you must enter litigation. CRA's don't bother reading them, let alone sending them on to a furnisher for validation. It would be interesting to know where those thousands of documents submitted by angry consumers end up. My understanding is that the FTC requires CRA's to keep records, my guess is they do not. One cannot dispute in a favorable manner. The consumer gets ad nauseum generic responses, no matter what the dispute, re-dispute, MoV, requests, etc. The CRA's make it as difficult as possible for consumers to navigate their websites for information on disputes, expectations, contact information, constantly change their mailing addresses, phone numbers. Re: phone numbers, they are automated, prompt you to choose irrevelant choices and irregardless of what you choose, the automatic response simply recycles itself, or, as we have learned, simply says "goodbye" and ends the call. By law, CRA's are required to send you a free, NEW report if it has been changed as a result of a dispute. We have received NONE. We have had to access their websites and in a wave of irrelevant pages and links, it is merely by chance one finds that secret link to view your new report (this, despite the investigation letter giving you such link, the link is non-existent, has been forwarded to another page, or is not duplicated anywhere on the website). Equifax sends you an investigation letter claiming the investigation is "complete" but is by far, NOT complete. You do not get your new report, and it does not exist online, it only shows you the PROGRESS of your dispute and according to them, it is ongoing still, and you can expect several letters mailed to you for every tradeline you dispute. I know that CRA's are not following the law. I know that furnishers are not following the law. I know that we have been jerked around long enough, spent too much money on paperwork and the inconvenience when the CRA's and furnishers obviously refuse to do their job. We have discovered violations and I intend to exercise my right to call them on that (through litigation). I'm not expecting a darn thing from them, but they can expect something from me, that's for certain.
I'm not an attorney, but I can tell you there are a lot of mortgage companies out there, especially smaller credit unions, that don't report to the credit bureaus. They don't have to according to the FCRA, and there's a cost to do so, so they choose not to. If you're willing to share, I'd be interested in learning more about why your attorney said they are required to report. What kind of "reasonable" policy does he believe they need to have?
Joshua, because: The mortgage company was reporting before the bankruptcy. And because: US Bankruptcy Code § 524. Effect of discharge (i) The willful failure of a creditor to credit payments received under a plan confirmed under this title, unless the order confirming the plan is revoked, the plan is in default, or the creditor has not received payments required to be made under the plan in the manner required by the plan (including crediting the amounts required under the plan), shall constitute a violation of an injunction under subsection (a)(2) if the act of the creditor to collect and failure to credit payments in the manner required by the plan caused material injury to the debtor. And because: (FCRA) § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] (a) Duty of Furnishers of Information to Provide Accurate Information (1) Prohibition (A) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors. A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the information is inaccurate. (F) Safe harbor. A financial institution shall not be liable for failure to perform the duties required by this paragraph if, at the time of the failure, the financial institution maintained reasonable policies and procedures to comply with this paragraph or the financial institution reasonably believed that the institution is prohibited, by law, from contacting the consumer. And; "Agencies Issue Final Rules on Accuracy of Credit Report Information and Allowing Direct Disputes The FTC is issuing these rules and guidelines with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the Agencies) under section 312 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Accuracy and Integrity Guidelines and Rules: The Agencies have issued guidelines specifying the actions for furnishers to take to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the information they furnish to credit reporting agencies, as well as rules requiring each furnisher to establish reasonable policies and procedures for implementing the guidelines. For example, the guidelines provide that, under circumstances specified by the Agencies, furnishers should report certain additional information when necessary to keep information they report from creating a misleading impression about a consumerâ??s creditworthiness. The guidelines specify one such circumstance â?? furnishers generally would need to include a consumerâ??s credit limit among the information they furnish to a credit reporting agency. The Agencies today are issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to identify other possible information that furnishers should report, such as the date the account was opened." (ftc dot gov slash opa slash 2009 slash 07 slash facta dot shtm -Agencies Issue Final Rules on Accuracy of Credit Report Information and Allowing Direct Disputes ) Lastly, because the mortgage company cannot use the excuse of the threat to obtain a reaffirmation agreement from us (unlawful coercion). As we understand it, the statement of intention supercedes, and is a valid contract, yet the mortgage co placed an inaccurate/incomplete tradeline into our credit file, as well as failed to update by crediting our payments and they simply omitted "key factors" in the tradeline that would have and should have contributed to our credit-worthiness and credit history. And now, they have the balls to delete the tradeline via CRA's without proof of adequate investigation of the dispute process, and without legitimate cause whatsoever. (they can verify the debt, they have the same records we have to support our dispute, etc). By all intents and purposes, either the mortgage company or the CRA's dropped the ball in correcting/modifying the dispute (I'm guessing both). The above url is typed out due to post count not met to post url's.
That says they have to apply payments received, not that they have to report anything to a CRA. I don't see how that applies to your complaint. OK, so they need to report everything they report accurately. I'm not sure that they need to report everything, however. I'm not sure how it works, but if you don't reaffirm the loan, then that might alter the status of the loan such that they are reporting it correctly by omitting all the details. You should do what your lawyer advises, but from the cheap seats, this looks like something you could spend a lot of money on a lawyer and not have a lot to show for it when the dust settles. I'd ask the lawyer what the costs and benefits are of the different options (costs/benefits to you, not your attorney, that is).
ccbob, thanks for weighing in. Without getting into details, there are several other "problems" the mortgage co has caused directly, and solely, affecting our credit. Our attorney is confident in the matter. Back to my original question. Under what circumstances (if anyone knows), can a CRA or furnisher delete an account from the credit file, without informing the consumer, i.e., for what purpose/reason? (other than the furnisher not being able to verify the debt, or that the dispute might be in litigation in which a block might be put in place). And, since the mortgage co will not play nice, how does a consumer find out whether it was the CRA or furnisher (or both) who did not verify and investigate the dispute? We predict the MOV will simply result in a generic "this has already been verified" letter. As for two CRA's, we know they did not investigate our dispute. Since they, the mortgage co and we and our attorney have the same documentation, and the documentation is valid, how can the tradeline simply be deleted?
Like ccbob, I'm not sure exactly how it works; however, it seems logical to me that creditors have the right to stop reporting on a tradeline or omit it altogether whenever they feel like it. I'm not saying that's fair either, but they have the right to raise your interest rates whenever they feel like it too. Starting this month they may have to give you a little more notice and work within some new guidelines, but it still doesn't stop them from doing basically whatever they want to. Have you sent the MOV yet?
As ccbob and Joshua have said, there is no law requiring them to report. Only that the information that they report be accurate. And there is no requirement for the CRA to forward anything you send them to the creditor. They don't have to pay attention to anything you send. They are only required to report what the creditors send to them. My understanding of the bankruptcy law, at least in some states, is that if you pay without a reaffirmation they are not supposed to report, because it is not a legal debt. It is something that you have voluntarily paid. And if you stopped paying they couldn't report you as delinquent. The debt has been discharged, and you haven't reaffirmed it.
