Mortgage Reporting on Credit Report

[jjones227]

Before BK, there was a RELS Reporting Service that kept making hard inquiries on my credit report. I was told that they were from the mortgage company. Once I filed for BK, RELS stopped making hard inquires. After the discharge, I decided to do a short sale on my home (that was surrendered during BK) because the foreclosure process was so slow. Now RELS is making hard inquires again. Can they do this, even if my mortgage was discharged?

[justbroke]

While they should not be doing this, some creditors do things that are against the FDCPA (FCRA) and the bankruptcy permanent discharge injunction. I would send them a letter telling them to stop as they are in violation of the discharge! (I would also say that it's an FCRA/FDCPA violation since they have NO business reason to pull your credit every month since you're legally not liable to pay the debt as it was discharged.)

So, I'd start with the letter dispute. (Are you sure they are hard pulls and not promotional (soft) pulls?)

[jjones227]

Thanks!!! I will knew this was some type of violation. They are definitely hard inquiries because I spoke with one of the credit reporting agencies as to why my score was decreasing. They explained it was the REL hard inquiries. I will start the dispute letter right away. Thanks sooo much!

[justbroke]

Make sure you send it CMRR (certified mail return receipt). I would also mention that they are in violation of the FCRA and the permanent discharge injunction from the bankruptcy... and that their failure to remove the entries and stop making hard inquiries against your credit, will be met with a motion for sanctions in the US Bankruptcy Court. Be firm and give them a firm date to remove the entries. I try to give them only 15 days since it's NOT a dispute! It's a violation and they need to take immediate action.

[IBroke]

This (inquiries) is an interesting topic when it comes to the FCRA. It is possible that the Reporting Service already caused permanent damage to the OP's credit file that can't be reversed.

I tried to dispute some inquiries with a credit-bureau in the past (I don't remember which one) and they claimed that inquiries can't be taken off of the report - even if they were unjustified. To me, that was a bummer and I asked myself why the reporting agency gives the consumer the option to file a dispute (online) and select certain inquiries that should be disputed and investigated ALTHOUGH - according to the bureau itself - the outcome of the investigation doesn't matter because they will stay on file anyway.

[justbroke]

It is not impossible to remove inquiries. In some cases, it will require an order from a court of jurisdiction.

[IBroke]

It is not impossible to remove inquiries. In some cases, it will require an order from a court of jurisdiction.

That's true. I even had inquiries removed from my own credit-report. I was just stunned about the written claim of that particular credit-bureau. They tried to explain that an inquiry was part of my "official record" and therefore, couldn't be removed. They didn't even bother to investigate if these inquiries were authorized or not. It simply didn't matter to them - and telling me that in writing just stunned me...

[justbroke]

In the end inquiries are much harder to remove -- generally speaking -- than derogatory information. I have never been able to remove inquiries that I was sure were not authorized. But I haven't tried in years to do so.

[IBroke]

Fortunately, a few inquiries don't do as much damage as other derogatory information. I always think that once the inquiries will be my biggest concern, I've virtually reached my credit-score goals..

[justbroke]

Well, the nice thing about inquiries, is that they start to lose their "potency" after 6 months. They affect you even less at 12 months, and they fall off after 24 months.

[IBroke]

Well, the nice thing about inquiries, is that they start to lose their "potency" after 6 months. They affect you even less at 12 months, and they fall off after 24 months.

So true. IMO, the effect of inquiries is well overrated. As I said, if that's the only problem on your credit-report, you're in a good position..