My search function is not working properly, so I hope you can help me. We were supposed to go to settlement tomorrow on our new home. We get a phone call at 10pm saying that there was new information on our credit reports stating that Household Automotive put negative information on our credit report which trashed our scores! We have worked very hard to get them to the level where we could get approved for the loan. I am angry because the information Household is reporting is UNTRUE! I paid the loan off completely last year and they are still reporting me $1000 in the hole. Which screwed up my credit. This new info could potentially keep us from getting the house and I am begging for someone here to give me some steering direction. I usually follow things to the letter, so I am all ears. I have a letter saying the account is paid in full and I need to know hwo to get this info off. Do you think this was done spitefully? Can I sue? Della
You may not be able to in time for your loan to go through. Your best bet is to take your proof of having paid it off and go to your lender and lay what you have on the line and hope for the best. But it may or may not help. All you can do is try. That seems unlikely but it is possible. Well, I'm not an attorney so I'm not qualified to give you an opinion on that but let it suffice to say that if I were in your shoes I sure would go see an attorney and find out whether or not you can file a lawsuit on them. Sounds like a situation worthy of a good lawsuit.
Let Household buy your new house for you. (Why can't I get situations this juicy? She has it in writing no less) lol Seriously Della, I'm not a mortgage guru but I'm quite sure that if you take that proof into your broker he can "recast" your scores without the derog and work off that. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.
Butch, At this point, my husband and I are considering an attorney. This is ridiculous. That happened at the 11th hour. It almost seems planned. All we have is proof in that letter, I just dont have my title yet which would further prove that it is paid in full. I also want to know about this "recasting" of scores. I will look it up, but can you give me a little more detail? Also, does anyone else have a suggestions for this? Anything would be helpful. Della
Call Household Automotive, talk to the supervisor, explain your situation and point out you have their letter as proof. You may get it resolved with one call. If they give you any lip, fax them the letter and any proof of payment you have along with a demand letter they immediately call the CRA and remove the derog. Then have them overnight a new Paid Account in Full letter that also confirms the derog has been removed from all CRA's. Make them send one copy to your lender and a copy to you. It might seem like the end of the world, but this situation is common and is usually fixable within a couple hours. If they don't follow through, RUN to an attorney that that won't put you off a week and have them fax their demand letter. Another possible angle may be to obtain a duplicate tittle at your department of motor vehicles office. Of course, this will depends on whether Household's lien has been removed. Since they are still reporting a balance, it may not have been. You can always call first and save yourself a trip. I think by "recasting scores" all they mean is hand scoring your credit reports, omitting the new derog. Hope this helps.
I'm not sure if its the same thing or not. But do a search on rapid rescore. Maybe that will answer your question.
Also ... unless your mortgage broker is actually your own grandmother, I don't trust that some of these "11th hour" tactics aren't designed to get consumers in such a panic that they will agree to ANYTHING - more points, higher interest rates, to secure the closing. And thus, secure greater dividends for the broker. Oh yes, ye of little faith ... My husband and I had A++ prime credit and still went through this nonsense. I feel for you and hope it has all worked out. Good luck and let us know!
Ok, I called Household and I also talked to the mortgage people, basically I am screwed unless Household comes up with a letter to prove it is not true. I want to fax this letter and follow up with a hard copy. How is this for a letter: February 18, 2003 RE: Account #XXXXXXXXXX Dear Sir/Madame: This letter is a formal complaint that you are reporting inaccurate and incomplete credit information. I am distressed that you have included the information below in my credit profile and that you have failed to maintain reasonable procedures in your operations to assure maximum possible accuracy in your reporting to the credit bureaus. Sometimes mistakes happen and I understand this. But, this fax is to alert you to this mistake and to notify you that I expect the inaccurate information in the above noted account to be deleted from my credit file within 72hrs. of this fax. You are reporting that that I am in arrears on the above account $1128 on one credit report and $1506 on another credit report. As it stands, I have paid off this account and have the documentation to prove that this account has been paid in full. You are also reporting that this account is late, yet I made my last and final payment in December of 2002. I contacted the Mature Loans department and was informed to disregard the bills coming to my home, they were in error. This was also told to me by Mr. Cruz. I was also told (my phone call in December) that my last payment was for $333, which I promptly paid, sent certified return receipts (which was signed and returned to me). I have placed several telephone calls in an attempt to get this fixed, and it appears that several departments have different information regarding the above account. This erroneous information could potentially be damaging and could cause the denial of mortgage loans and future credit based on your incorrect information. When I paid you, I relied upon the belief that you would do the honorable thing and report accurate information to the credit bureaus which you not only failed to do but actually changed my listing reflect that I am paying late and also that I owe monies to a Paid in Full account, which is a terrible rating in the eyes of any potential future creditors. Credit reporting laws ensure that creditors report only 100% accurate credit information. Every step must be taken to assure the information reported is completely accurate and correct. The listed item is entirely inaccurate and incomplete, and as such represents a very serious error in your reporting. If you ignore this demand or fail to respond accordingly I be forced to exercise my legal rights under the FCRA. I demand that upon receipt of this fax, that you correct your mistake. YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO CURE! Thanks in advance for your urgent attention to this matter, it is appreciated. Sincerely, «Signature» «Your Name» How is this letter? I am open to all suggestions. Too much info, too little? Della
Ok, I called Household and I also talked to the mortgage people, basically I am screwed unless Household comes up with a letter to prove it is not true. I want to fax this letter and follow up with a hard copy. How is this for a letter: February 18, 2003 RE: Account #XXXXXXXXXX Dear Sir/Madame: This letter is a formal complaint that you are reporting inaccurate and incomplete credit information. I am distressed that you have included the information below in my credit profile and that you have failed to maintain reasonable procedures in your operations to assure maximum possible accuracy in your reporting to the credit bureaus. Sometimes mistakes happen and I understand this. But, this fax is to alert you to this mistake and to notify you that I expect the inaccurate information in the above noted account to be deleted from my credit file within 72hrs. of this fax. You are reporting that that I am in arrears on the above account $1128 on one credit report and $1506 on another credit report. As it stands, I have paid off this account and have the documentation to prove that this account has been paid in full. You are also reporting that this account is late, yet I made my last and final payment in December of 2002. I contacted the Mature Loans department and was informed to disregard the bills coming to my home, they were in error. This was also told to me by Mr. Cruz. I was also told (my phone call in December) that my last payment was for $333, which I promptly paid, sent certified return receipts (which was signed and returned to me). I have placed several telephone calls in an attempt to get this fixed, and it appears that several departments have different information regarding the above account. This erroneous information could potentially be damaging and could cause the denial of mortgage loans and future credit based on your incorrect information. When I paid you, I relied upon the belief that you would do the honorable thing and report accurate information to the credit bureaus which you not only failed to do but actually changed my listing reflect that I am paying late and also that I owe monies to a Paid in Full account, which is a terrible rating in the eyes of any potential future creditors. Credit reporting laws ensure that creditors report only 100% accurate credit information. Every step must be taken to assure the information reported is completely accurate and correct. The listed item is entirely inaccurate and incomplete, and as such represents a very serious error in your reporting. If you ignore this demand or fail to respond accordingly I be forced to exercise my legal rights under the FCRA. I demand that upon receipt of this fax, that you correct your mistake. YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO CURE! Thanks in advance for your urgent attention to this matter, it is appreciated. Sincerely, «Signature» «Your Name» How is this letter? I am open to all suggestions. Too much info, too little? Della
If your mortgage broker is worth his weight in salt, he will know how to resolve this situation via "rapid resolve". It costs about $25 per item, per bureau, but they claim that they can resolve the issue in 48 to 72hrs. Theoretically, it is supposed to improve your score, but here are two major problems with their system: 1) Even though it will show the account as "paid in full" there is no way of telling how your score will come out. The scoring system is really screwed up and it often will re-age a newly listed account that was paid-off years ago as if it happened yesterday. It stinks and its illegal, but there's very little that can be done about it until a major class-action lawsuit is filed. 2) Lenders very rarely pull directly from the CRA's, they pull from sub-agencies instead. These sub-agencies often have issues about the timeliness of the data they provide. Even though the account could be completely deleted today, it just may take 30 days for this information to cycle into the sub-agency's data-base. Again, its another violation, but until there is a major class-action lawsuit, there is little that can be done. If its just an issue of getting the derog listed as "paid", you have absolutely no problem. Your mortgage broker only needs to fax a copy of your proof of payment to the sub-agency that he purchases his credit reports from and they will issue what is called a "credit supplement" showing the account is paid in full. Almost all lenders will accept "credit supplements" from sub-agencies as proof that a debt has been satisfied. A "supplement" will not affect your score or your credit report. Its only a statement of fact issued by a sub-agent. The only way to get it permanently resolved on a credit report is to go directly to the CRAs. Hope this info was helpful. Good Luck!!!
This almost same thing happened to us in the 11th hour. Suddenly we get a call saying new information was being reported that I had 3 car loan accounts that were in default. My husband and I only had one car and that account was showing as paying as agreed..no lates. The CRA's were no help, the creditor was no help so I called an attorney, faxed him what I had and within hours everything was "fixed". What happened was there is a person in my city with my first and last name AND my middle initial and the bad accounts were hers. Yes it was a mistaken identity and I could have gotten it straightened out eventually BUT my point is sometimes an attorney knows exactly what buttons to push and whose buttons need pushing for the quickest fix. It almost makes me think that CRA's somehow keep hidden collection account records on people and as soon as a person starts mortgage shopping they unveil the demons. Good luck to you!
How good the attorney will do in scaring them off is going to depend on how much consumer law he knows. I have several attorneys who are my students and who ask me what they should do. Why would an attorney do that? For the simple reason that they are oil & gas attorneys or maybe do medical malpractice suits or aren't even into lawsuits but do some type of legal counseling for some company or some organization or whatever and they just don't know about consumer law but have gotten themselves into financial problems just like anybody else and they want to learn how to rid themselves of their problems without getting sued and hopefully not having to sue anybody else either. It isn't that any old attorney can write a letter and get you off the hook regardless of what that hook might be. Most attorneys have a specialized field of expertise and they don't venture outside of the area of their expertise unless forced to do so by whatever circumstance that might arise. So you need to be sure you get the right attorney for the job you need done.
Yes this is an important point I failed to mention. I was lucky that I was able to call our company's corporate attorney who put me in contact with another attorney in his firm who practices primarily in consumer law, so I didn't have to let my fingers do the walking in the yellow pages to find him. He was excellent...knew his stuff...got the job done and charged me enough to prove it
I am told the legal department is in San Diego, but they well protect the contact information. I can get it but I believe the names/numbers below will help you. Household Automotive Credit Corporation 6602 Convoy St San Diego, CA 92111 Phone: (858) 609-2000 Fax#'s: (858) 650-6350 (858) 492-6350 Household Automotive Credit Corporation 5855 Copley Dr #100 & 300 San Diego, CA 92111 General Information Original Business Start Date: July 1993 New Ownership Date: April 1997 Type of Entity: corporation Principal : Mr Joseph Trunk Compliance Manager Customer Contact: Ms Terry Owens Compliance Officer Analyst Phone Number: (888) 317-2788 Fax Number: (858) 492-6350 Membership Status: Yes Date Joined BBB: January 1997 Type-of-Business Classification: Consumer Finance & Loan Companies Website Address: www.householdauto.com Household Automotive Finance Corp 5855 Copley Dr #100 & 300 San Diego, CA 92111 General Information Original Business Start Date: July 1993 New Ownership Date: April 1997 Type of Entity: corporation Principal : Mr Walter Menezes President/CEO Customer Contact: Ms Terry Owens Compliance Officer Analyst Phone Number: (800) 418-1888 Fax Number: (858) 492-6350 Membership Status: Yes Date Joined BBB: July 2001 Type-of-Business Classification: Consumer Finance & Loan Companies
Well ... as much as I hate to say it, Kathy is exactly right. On this thread Marie, brings up a delimna of her consumer disclosure being quite different from the report pulled by the mortgage broker. Her situation was very similar to Della's. http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11513 For those who are unaware David Szwak is a respected Consumer Atty. in LA. He posts here when he can (all too infrequently) Here is what David had to say about this issue: Incredibly, The info YOU get is different from what THEY get. I believe this is no accident. If you want your situation resolved quickly, by all means follow SpyGuyJim and Ryder's advice. But personally, I'd LOVE to see you develop a serious legal case over this. Consumers need people to stand up and sue these Bastards. Notice the secret to establishing your case. When I go for my mortgage I will have the Foxy Mrs. Butch on my flip phone. At the precise moment the broker pulls my report, Mrs. Butch will be pulling all 3 CR's to get the consumer disclosures. Laying the 2 side by side, and with the Subscriber report containing more info. than the consumer disclosure, serious litigation is in the making. Although I like your letter and fully understand your desire to get your mortgage completed, if you send your letter you may be ruining your case. You'll want to go study this thread.
. It almost seems planned. DellaAnn ================== There is nothing I would put past them. The END ************************* LB 59
1*It almost makes me think that CRA's somehow keep hidden collection account records on people. 2*as soon as a person starts mortgage shopping they unveil the demons. kathycmh ==================== 1*They do that. 2* Then all the creditor or collector has to is select any debt they want and place it on your credit report. The END ************************* LB 59
Well, I respectfully have to disagree with all that is said here. As most of you know I work with a fair spectrum of mortgage brokers and realtors and their clients here in OKC. I am first of all provided with a copy of the tri-merge report for each potential home buyer pulled by the realtor or broker. Then the buyer provideds me with a copy of all 3 of their reports as well. In some cases they are older reports and in some cases they must order them and we have to await their arrival. In either case the reports provided to me by the broker or realtor and those provided to me by the buyer are essentially the same and any differences that exist are due to the difference in who the broker or realtor uses to pull his tri-merge report. Some are more complete than others and some do have different information than that provided either on another broker's report or the consumers report but other than some field or other not included in the tri-merge they are all essentially the same. The major differences are in providing full and complete collector's or creditor's contact information and in providing accurate date of last activity. But the information is either there or it isn't and even in the case of a buyer shopping around so that he goes from one broker or realtor to another and getting reports pulled from both, ending up being referred to me by both of them so that I can easily compare the tri-merge reports and see that fields missing on one tri-merge are present on another provider's tri-merge. As far as I can see, the only angle of attack would probably lie in the failure to disclose the correct date of last activity to the consumer while providing it to a potential lender. As far as refusal of the broker or realtor to allow the consumer to see the tri-merge and to freely compare it to his own report or use it for his own purposes whatever they may be, I have never had that problem when dealing with the brokers or realtors. They may or may not just hand a copy to the buyer but fax them right over to me upon my request with no strings or conditions attached. I have consistantly seen car dealers refuse to allow the consumer to see the reports they pull but not the realtors or brokers. I don't get the chance to work with car dealers for the simple reason that when a customer enters upon their premises he is probably either going to strike a deal right then and there or within a couple of days but if that isn't going to happen they are off to some other car lot. They want their car and they want it now. Home buyers are usually willing to wait and plan for many months if need be but car buyers are not so inclined. Sorry to be so cantankerous, but thats just been my experiences over a fairly large sampling of cases.
