Our former 2nd mortgage company who was discharged in our bk 6/02, has been accessing our credit files up until 12/02. Please help with a clear answer one way or another if it is illegal for them to do this? Since we were under protection of our BK and they were listed on our schedules 2/02 and discharged in 6/02 - do they have any right to access our files? They have done so 6x's on mine from April 02 up until Dec 02 (and 3x's on my husbands)....do we have a case? They (of course are deny any wrong-doing) - will I need an attorney to pursue further? Also they are reporting a 90 days late and charge off status on my account - we were current on this loan when we filed - can they do this as well? can't they only report "included in bankruptcy" - not included in bk - charge off, 90-day late? HELP! : )
They can only pull an inquiry if there is still a business relationship. Did you re-affirm the 2nd mortgage in the BK or was this loan discharged? If you have no ongoing business relationship with them, send them a lovely permissible purpose letter like the one Christine used at bayhouse.com. If they truly had no PP for pulling your reports, they owe you $1k for each report pulled. Why not get a lawyer? The blathering fools at the mortgage company will eventually be picking up the tab for that anyway.
Thanks Boywonder... No - we did not reaffirm - it was included and discharged in our bk. The cust. svce person I had on the phone today had me all fired up...trying to say we were still responsible for the loan even if it was discharged and they have a right to access the file???? Also they used an outside real estate company to access our file on behalf of them which I thought was strange? FYI - this loan ended up paid in full with the sale of my home (the house increased 80k in 7 months (of course after I file)...(no luck!)... Anyway, I did send them a letter outlining the violations and asking for a settlement of $15,000.00 (2,500 per occurance- i'm in california) (this was only for my violations, I will send a sep. letter for my husbands) I faxed and rec'vd a confirmation it went through OK, but should I also follow up and send snail mail CRRR? Will they just ignore my letter? If they do, will I have more of a case if I retain an attorney? Anyone out there have any experience with this? I guess I should find an attorney..but don't have the extra cash to pay for it..do you think they would do this on a percentage of recovery? Between my file and my husband's its 10 inquiries @ 2,500 each... Does anyone ever actually receive payment on this if they do take it to court? Can anyone recommend an attorney in the LA area? Thanks, Brando
Also, 2 of the inquiries occurred after someone moved into our home in October? I had an inquiry in November and December 02? What possible reason would they have to do this when somebody had already purchased and moved into my house? and they rec'vd full payoff of the loan (I rec'vd the paid in full loan docs in early December?)
From my experience, these are fairly easy to win. The FCRA provides for reimbursement of attorneys fees and court costs. Forget contingency--an attorney would get reimbursed for hourly fees for this one. The fact that they used a front company to try to conceal their impermissible pulls is especially damaging to this company. It would be foolish to settle for less than the full amount. In the interim, file a complaint with the BBB against this company. They are likely to respond to this and say something on paper that may come back to haunt them. The purpose of the BBB complaint is not to resolve the matter (that seldom happens) but to get a preview of what defense they will claim in court. Don't be surprised if they ignore your initial settlement letter. Many of these low lifes are initially hostile and defiant until you serve them with a summons.
were these hard inquiries or soft inquiries? I have a similar situation with a credit card company that was pulling soft inquiries?
Can anyone out there recommend an attorney in the Los Angeles area that handles this type of case? Thanks, Brando
