I am thinking of sending a letter to Wells Fargo's legal department regarding 2 hard inquiries on my report and 2 on my husband's report. They pulled our credit June 20 and we closed July 13. They did a hard inquiry on both of us August 27. I have spoken with 6 different people and no one knows why anyone ran our credit and no one seems to know how to get it off. I want to send a copy of the letter that tac14033 sent to Kohl's, but change it to fit our scenario. My question is this: Is it $1,000 for each of the inquiries (2) on each of our reports - which would be a total of 4 @ $1,000 each?
Ok, if I understand you correctly, you closed on a Wells Fargo loan, yes? If you did, then they have a permissable purpose to pull your report. You might have better luck "goodwilling" them to recode it to an AR (account review) which is a soft and won't affect your score.
They had a right to run it before we closed, but they didn't have a right to run a hard inquiry 6 weeks after we closed. Isn't that correct? I know they can do reviews, but they have it coded as Finance, Personal on the report.
The FCRA does not IMHO distinguish between hards and softs. Only full reports and promotional type pulls that only release limited information. Thats why I suggested goodwilling them to recode it.
I can't get a person with a pulse and half a brain there to even try it. I've spoke with several people and faxed my letter to 3 different people. I've asked for a reply back via phone, fax or email. So far nothing. I was thinking maybe the threat of a lawsuit would awaken SOMEONE who would be willing to take the 30 seconds needed to change or delete the inquiry.
LOL, that might get the right person's attention, but IMHO you may not have a legal leg to stand on if they refuse. Have you tried Planet Feedback? You have got to get to the right person, past the CSR's and at least one or two supervisors up.
I'm currently "on hold" with them as I am typing this. I called and asked for their legal department. They gave me their executive offices. I told the secretary I was going to file a lawsuit and wanted the phone fax number. She put me on hold and came back and told me she had someone from the dispute department (whom I was told earlier couldn't receive calls) who would rectify this immediately for me. When I spoke with Teresa, she said "I only work on credit cards and personal lines of credit. I'll give you the number for mortgages. When I dialed it I got the SAME recorded message about Mortgage Inquiry. I've had it with them!
i have never had anything good come from wells fargo....finally pulled everything out from them, and moved on. good luck..let us know how it goes
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry I think they do: (3) Information regarding inquiries. Except as provided in section 609(a)(5) [§ 1681g], a consumer reporting agency shall not furnish to any person a record of inquiries in connection with a credit or insurance transaction that is not initiated by a consumer. I think a CRRR letter to the legal depstment is in order.
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry If I am not mistaken, there is an FTC opnion letter in refards to this http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/gowen.htm. It very clearly states that closed-ended accounts are not subject to account reviews and thereby no permissible purpose exists. They could not alter any of the terms of the mortgage after it was signed therefore they have no permissible purpose. A lawsuit may be in order.
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry You should read the forum at this link. Christine has A LOT of experience with Wells Fargo and you may be very happy to read the following... http://www.creditforum.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=229 I'd be willing to bet that you would win your $1,000 Good Luck!
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry WOW! I copied the verbage out of Christine's letter and put it on a separate letter and sent all of it to the faxes listed on Christine's letter. I had 3 different fax numbers. I'm psyched! Just think, all I really wanted early was deletion of the inquiry. I wouldn't push it this far put they REALLY pissed me off with their so-what attitude. If they had said "we're sorry, we made a mistake" and deleted it right away, I probably would have been satisfied.
Re: Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry This FTC opinion letter (Gowen) implies that your current mortgage lender CANNOT pull an AR after the closing because they cannot alter the mortgage terms and therefore have no PP for the AR. Well, I just noticed on my TU report that my current mortgage lender has been regularly pulling ARs every 4 months (6 total since April 2001). Did they really not have a permissible purpose for these ARs?
Re: Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry Boywonder may be right. I would push it myself. Just be prepared for the OC to counter with the only effective argument he has which may cause him to win his case. I would push the issue though. I doubt these people are slick enough to profer this defense.
Re: Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry Also, you should check legal opinions in your U.S. Circuit courts. The 8th appelate circuit has cited the Gowen FTC opinion letter in affirming decisions. If you live in the eighth circuit, your claim for violations are pretty airtight. For the sake of argument, what possible motive would a closed-end creditor have for pulling inquiries? The terms and the provisions of the deal are already set in stone. What hypothetical purpose could said creditor have for reviewing ones credit report? I think Golf67 has an easy $4k coming his way. Note--there are also criminal penalties for non-permissible purpose pulls of a credit report. Has anyone used this in negotiating settlements?
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry If they had a right to run it before you closed, then why would it be 4 violations?
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry DOH! You're right, LKH. I was misreading the dates for the first inquiries. Golf67--Let's call that last post a mulligan--make that $2k.
Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry If they had a right to run it before you closed, then why would it be 4 violations?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Lawsuite for Inquiry Boywonder, Your post was 20 minutes after mine, so I assume you saw it before you posted. As the Footnote for the Gowen Opinion states: The OC, even on a Contractual Installment Agreement, may pull a report. The purpose of which is to determine the "safety and soundness" of their anticipated ROI. (return on investment). If you were getting ready to default they'd wanna know well ahead of time. It has a lot to do with measuring [anticipated] profits and setting future dividends for Stock Holders. However, like I said, I really don't think these guy's even know this, so yeah, I'd pursue the case to see what happens. And if I ever had to send the Gowen opinion I'd cut off the footnotes. lol Play their game for once.
