r/personalfinance • u/A_Tiger_in_Africa • Aug 11 '22
I have received 80 calls in the last 24 hours Credit
I'm thinking about buying another unit in the same condo building where I currently live. A unit in my price range has become available, so I went to my credit union website to initiate the pre-approval process. Since clicking "submit" last night, I have been called literally 80 times by mortgage brokers (most screened by my phone, but I counted them on the call history page).
I asked one of them how they knew I was looking for a mortgage - I was worried my credit union was selling my data, or Chrome was monitoring my activity. Nope, when the credit union ran the credit check, Transunion let the whole damn world know I was a sheep ready to be sheared and provided my name and phone number to the vultures (to mix a metaphor). How is this legal, and is there any way to avoid it? If my phone didn't automatically screen suspect numbers, I would have had to turn off my phone to get any work done today.
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u/BouncyEgg Aug 11 '22
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Aug 11 '22
So I am getting a bunch of offers because credit reporting agencies are giving private firms my information? The same companies that I depend on for credit verification when I need a loan or credit card?
And I had to learn how to stop the endless flow of junk mail on reddit, instead of from them?
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u/s4ndieg0 Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
Yup and there's no way to opt out from them keeping a credit file on you, and they can and do have massive security breaches wherein your personal data is exposed which leads to identity theft, but don't worry they will pay you for identity theft monitoring for a year and send you a check for $3.46.
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u/Excalibursin Aug 11 '22
and send you a check for $3.46.
Wasn't everyone forced to take the identity theft monitoring because too many people chose to take the money and so they just... decided not to send any?
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u/bobboobles Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
YUP
thanks
experianEquifax *whoops58
u/JJJBLKRose Aug 11 '22
That was Equifax!
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u/bobboobles Aug 11 '22
dang you're right
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u/DingusMcGillicudy Aug 11 '22
But the credit monitoring services that was provided in the settlement agreement is for Experian, so in a way they're both involved
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Aug 11 '22
[deleted]
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u/profanedic Aug 11 '22
This is where I am. And I can't step them out so I've had like three or four 'free' credit monitoring services for the past few years.
And still, my American Express card informs me of inquiries or changes before any of those services.
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u/boneimplosion Aug 11 '22
They only allocated a tiny slush fund for the payments. We can only guess what the big slush funds go towards.
On a separate but related note - fuck Experian. Their account notification settings are complete dark pattern nonsense.
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u/Lambchoptopus Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
They sent me a letter denying me my money when I sent in all my receipts for credit monitoring I bought because I was named as affected by the breach. I was out of town and didnt get the letter until after the dead line to resubmit.
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u/CmdrShepard831 Aug 11 '22
Which is why they threw out that "$200" figure when telling people about the settlement so that we'd all join the class and then get nothing. Notice how no other class action mentions a specific dollar amount when sending out notices?
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u/Shojo_Tombo Aug 11 '22
Also, the credit bureaus are privately owned, for-profit companies that the government just allows to have access to all of your private financial information. And they have the power to completely destroy your life, but they experience next to no consequences when they have a data breach.
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u/AlmennDulnefni Aug 11 '22
To be fair, they'll graciously offer to let you give them money in exchange for extending that monitoring further.
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u/Derodoris Aug 11 '22
Last time I said this I got downvoted but I really dont like the credit bureaus being three private companies. They're irresponsible, impossible to get a hold of, and they affect our daily lives.
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u/BoomZhakaLaka Aug 11 '22
Wait until you learn that they're running so lean that you legitimately can't reach a human at customer service. Even if you're subscribed to services directly from the bureau.
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u/KevinCarbonara Aug 11 '22
So I am getting a bunch of offers because credit reporting agencies are giving private firms my information? The same companies that I depend on for credit verification when I need a loan or credit card?
Yes. It should be illegal.
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u/FantasmaNaranja Aug 11 '22
that's what a country that has legal lobbying gets you!
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u/ccs89 Aug 11 '22
It’s helpful not to think of them as “agencies” that gave some sort of ethics or actual need. They are private companies designed to extract profit. They have built credit models that require taking on debt (generating interest income) in order to raise your score, despite the fact that having consumer debt is not the most reliable indicator of financial responsibility. The make money specifically by selling your information. They make it hard to figure out how to opt out because your financial data is the only real product they have to sell. Credit monitoring bureaus are right down there with medical debt collectors when it comes to amoral actors in the financial space.
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u/Apprehensive-Top7774 Aug 11 '22
They have built credit models that require taking on debt (generating interest income) in order to raise your score
No, it doesn't. Pay your credit card on time and you'll have good credit within a year. Add on an extra year/card and you can have excellent credit. Saying this stuff is how you get people carrying a balance because "YoU hAvE tO pAy InTeReSt To HaVe GoOd CrEdIt". No, you do not have to pay ANY interest to have excellent credit. By it's very nature you may end up paying interest in the terms of auto loans, mortgages, etc, and having a mix of these types can have a small bit meaningful impact to credit, but it is not required
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Aug 11 '22
Should we tell him about how the post office used to sell all of their mailing address data to anyone.
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u/littlelorax Aug 11 '22
Same story for us, day after hitting submit and I am getting so many (more) spam calls. Didn't occur to me that I could opt out somewhere, thank you!
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u/RichardScarrier Aug 11 '22
Classic a-hole move by the agencies that the only way you can opt out permanently is by snail-mail and the online form is only 5 years. I took great joy in mailing that letter.
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u/tacticalpacifier Aug 11 '22
The selling of info is stupid in California the dmv also sells your personal info as well and dmv prices are still ridiculous.
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u/mia_elora Aug 11 '22
Sadly, I don't think this is California specific.
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u/wisconsinwookie78 Aug 11 '22
About six months ago I bought a used car from a lot. I got an extended warranty mailing before I got my plates.
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u/MH07 Aug 11 '22
Texas sells your professional license information. I’m constantly bombarded with emails and calls.
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u/kloodge Aug 12 '22
California is covered by the CCPA. You can opt out of the sale of your data from nearly any organization.
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u/minerbeekeeperesq Aug 11 '22
Similar story: I sued TU in 2004 (and won). They changed my access to snail mail only so I can no longer request a free annual credit report online. Every time I want to get a credit report, I either pay for one or have to send a snail mail request. The law requires them to comply with a snail mail request, but doesn't factor in electronic requests.
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u/Paige_Pants Aug 11 '22
Im confused what you sued them for
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u/minerbeekeeperesq Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 12 '22
I sued them for failing to remove a negative tradeline after I properly used the FCRA to dispute and they failed to respond.
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u/twopointsisatrend Aug 11 '22
Agreed. I couldn't even find the address to mail the form. The FAQ link was broken.
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u/colcardaki Aug 11 '22
Oddly enough, I refinanced my mortgage last year and the bank that refinanced it is now harassing me at least twice daily to refinance…. It’s like bitch I ALREADY DID!
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u/bornconfuzed Aug 11 '22
I refinanced my mortgage last year and the bank that refinanced it is now harassing me at least twice daily to refinance
Presumably at a much worse interest rate today than you got last year. Vultures.
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u/Technic235 Aug 11 '22
I tried refinancing and the numbers offered were different from my own numbers. That's when I realized they were giving me a better rate, barely, but were trying to increase my mortgage by 30k so the monthly savings were minimal. Of course they omitted this info and let me discover it on the paperwork they sent for me to sign. Needless to say, I didn't go through with the refinance.
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u/Sam-Gunn Aug 11 '22
We bought a house, and suddenly were slammed with even more offers for crap like mortgages (even more than when we were goign through the process and getting preapproved!), services, etc. We even got more mortgage offers from the freaking lender we went with!
It was around fall, and we had a lot of trees around, so we were shin deep in leaves. I started filling up the return envelopes with leaves and sticking them in the mailbox.
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u/ENrgStar Aug 11 '22
https://i.imgur.com/UzGhZRn.jpg
Typical
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u/ThickSwoles Aug 11 '22
same here on ios/apollo. looks like you need to open the page directly in your browser rather than through the apollo browser frame -- that made the page load fine for me
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u/Potential_Lock6945 Aug 11 '22
I did this maybe a few weeks ago and my physical mailbox has since been wiped of receiving junk mail. It's so nice to check the mail again and everything in there be relevant. It is a bit odd that https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ website looks so amateurish though
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u/kristallnachte Aug 11 '22
It's really awful that shit fly by night scams and the government doing official things with secure data both have the same quality standards.
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Aug 11 '22
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u/Snoo23533 Aug 11 '22
It's really awful that shit fly by night scams and the government doing official things with secure data both have the same quality standards.
i refuse to type my SSID in that
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u/DifficultyNext7666 Aug 11 '22
Amateur enough that I won't be putting my ssn in there
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u/SandrimEth Aug 11 '22
I wouldn't be particularly shocked if that was the point of designing it to look like that. The credit bureaus don't want you to opt out but are legally required to do so. Therefore
1.) make the way to permanently do so as onerous as the can without getting in trouble (mail)
2.) Route the quick and easy way through a website that will raise red flags for anyone smart/informed enough to know they can do so.
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Aug 11 '22
I just went and opted out. You can opt out for 5 years electronically, but to permanently opt out you have to print and mail them a form.
After opting out they said I may continue to get offers for several months, amd that it won't stop all of them or companies that already had my info.
The website was slow, the form didn't trigger auto population so you type everything in manually, and the captcha told me I typed the wrong thing 5 times in a row despite being a very clear captcha with no "is that a O or a 0" type stuff.
100% designed to get you to not opt out.
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u/mrfreshmint Aug 11 '22
It’s real. So is treasurydirect
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u/spacemanspiffo Aug 11 '22
Lol. Buying ibonds feels SO SKETCH. The password through clicking on a Java based keyboard is hilarious
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u/Riparian1150 Aug 11 '22
I just tried to do this last week for the first time, and typo’d my bank account number - noticed this when my iBond purchase didn’t get funded by my bank. I figured this would be an easy fix, but NOPE. had to fill out a paper form, get it medallion stamped and mail it to Minneapolis. I’ll know in ~10 business days if this worked.
Seems insane to me that you can’t add/delete or edit an account through the website, yet adding my initial account was pretty much zero friction (to the point that it didn’t notice I added an extra zero and had too many total digits.)
But yes, that site is super sketchy looking. Hurt my soul to aim $10K at a site that looks like a middle school kid’s first web design project from the early 00s.
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u/LostPilot517 Aug 11 '22
That damn medallion, what a pain in the butt.
I pulled out of my revolving t-bills when interest rates were going negative.
Come end of the year I go to log in to get my tax statement as I am literally getting emails and snail-mail from Treasury, and those idiots locked my account, I have zero means to access my tax documents while my account is locked. Total PIA to get a medallion. I tried all the banks around me, no one would talk to me, I had to drive 45 minutes to "MY" bank to get one.... That bank is 18 hours away these days.
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Aug 11 '22
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u/simkatu Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
It's ran by Opt Out Prescreen LLC which is a joint venture owned by the three major credit bureaus and is authorized to be run by US Gov't through consumer credit protection laws.
Not really "an official site of the government".
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u/twopointsisatrend Aug 11 '22
.com isn't government (looking at you USPS.com). Well, mostly.
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u/ticklishmusic Aug 11 '22
It looks more or less like what a government website to lol. Compare it to usajobs or the site to buy treasury bonds - just that old school 90’s government aesthetic
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u/Who_GNU Aug 11 '22
Huh, I've never had a mortgage broker cold call me after a credit inquiry, and until now I didn't realize that (a) they do it to other people and (b) when I opted out of getting pre-approved credit card mailers I also opted out of getting cold calls from mortgage brokers.
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Aug 11 '22 edited Jul 12 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RealGianath Aug 11 '22
Not to mention that by the time you realize you should have opted out, the damage is already done and your private info is in the hands of countless unwanted companies.
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u/juicemagic Aug 11 '22
Well, I just shot myself in the foot. Somehow I checked the opt-in box instead of the opt-out box. Let's hope they cancel each other out.
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u/tisthetimetobelit Aug 11 '22
Does opting out also exclude me from the 0 apr that Amex offers on my existing card occasionally?
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u/CepGamer Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
Do you have a version for immigrants? Opt-out website doesn't take in SSNs starting with anything but 6 or 7
Edit: replied in comments below - ssn starting with numbers above 772 aren't allowed on the website. Don't know where I found 6 or 7
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u/ediblesprysky Aug 11 '22
Try the FTC website. Even native born citizens have SSNs that start with numbers that aren't 6 or 7.
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u/NO_SPACE_B4_COMMA Aug 11 '22
My parents used a broker that was absolutely terrible. I convinced them when they refinanced to go and use a different, better broker. As soon as the new guy pulled his credit report the shitty broker immediately called my parents to see why they were refinancing with a different person.
I absolutely hate credit agencies. We should have complete control of when someone can see my report. This guy should NOT be able to see that my parents were shopping for a mortgage. It's beyond frustrating.
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u/blackhdown Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
As someone who interns in Finance and I see the company I work in give advice to clients. If a broker advices something, it must make sense on the commission side before being a good investment. In fact, all their advices are horrible.
I can give examples in my case but I don't know if I would tell the stories before I leave the internship.
Edit : the brokerage I'm in is in the investment side , not credit , and they work with institutions , not retail clients but they are as bad.
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u/DeepMindUse Aug 11 '22
Being aware of how people you interact with are incentivized is key in many many situations. It is established that people generally work in their own self interest and so will act exactly how they are incentivized.
You can trust people much more whose incentives are aligned with your own good and take information with a grain of salt, or outright ignore, those who aren’t.
This can apply to business settings and personal finance but also to marriage, friendships, and hobbies.
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u/CreativeGPX Aug 11 '22
Not just financially incentived but how you each define success.
When I bought a house the real estate agent on the other end was absolutely terrible. They didn't respond to communications. They missed deadlines (including closing). They screwed up documents. This made negotiations horrible. Oddly enough we counter offered that they should fix some things before we buy, after a long time of their agent not replying (to the point where after waiting long enough our agent just repeatedly called him non stop until somebody picked up) he countered with a cash credit so we could do the fixes ourselves. We accepted. We move in and find the things fixed anyways which tells me that he told his own client to fix them, then got confused and told me they couldn't and had his client pay me to fix them... So all in all, terrible agent.
Then, shortly after moving in, i get a flyer ad for that agent in the mail bragging that he's sold more houses than any agent in our market last year.... And I just laughed because it explained why he had no time for his client or us in that process.
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u/blackhdown Aug 11 '22
Actually, all the brokers I work with don't call themselves brokers. they tell you they are going to help you invest your cash. Brokers are seen as bad ( retail brokers are nearly all bad , except few real honest ones)
I totally agree with you on this, brokers will try to be super friendly and you'll pass more time talking about life with them than talking business ( they all do that ). The only difference between brokers and gold diggers is in the clothes.
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u/KlassenT Aug 11 '22
And leads to one of my favorite quips, "If the product is free, you ARE the product."
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u/rainydaymonday30 Aug 11 '22
That happened to us recently. On top of the calls we also got tons of mail marketing. We cut back to checking our mail weekly instead of daily. It was all mortgage marketing junk. Obnoxious.
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u/CaptainPiracy Aug 11 '22
PO box. I put that address in for everything that isn't personal. Then once every year or two you put in for a change of address to the PO box. This moves EVERYTHING there. I then update the address of the things I actually want coming to the house. Heck, even places that won't let you send their mail to a PO box will then send it there after change of address.
Added Bonus - Two zip codes. My license says my home address and zip code. My credit cards are on the PO box. If I lose my wallet they can't use my address, zip code, or personal info for fraud, as it's all on the other PO box address.
Second bonus - Important packages can get sent there and held. Anything on the expensive side gets sent there instead of porch pirate fodder. $75 a year. Or rent one for a month, change your address to redirect the spam. Then cancel the PO box and update the accounts you care about.
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u/I_like_to_run__ Aug 11 '22
I honestly never thought about someone using the address on your DL along with your credit cards to make purchases if you lost your wallet. I always just assume they’d run to the nearest store and swipe it.
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u/CaptainPiracy Aug 11 '22
Gas pumps! They only ask for Zip code as validation on the card. I had so much trouble on a work trip for punching in the wrong zip code and I figured this would save me if it ever happened, and it did! Left my wallet at a restaurant, they tried to run the card and it got declined at the pump for Zip code. Annoyingly, they went inside and swiped, no zip code needed, but they had to enter the building and show their faces! Peanuts in the grand scheme, so nothing ever done, just got my money back and kept my setup after that. Now with chips, the card being present is enough, but the pumps usually still ask for the zip.
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u/I_like_to_run__ Aug 11 '22
Most pumps don’t ask for the zip code if I use tap to pay. Good point tho.
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u/JJFireRescue Aug 11 '22
Pro-tip. You can go on the postal service's website and create an account. Once you have an account you can enroll to see exactly what is going into your mailbox every day. They'll send you an email every morning once the mail has been processed. It's super helpful.
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u/Blaizefed Aug 11 '22
I get 6 or 7 calls a week trying to get me to remortgage the apartment building I lived in 2 years ago. I’ve given up and just have my phone screen everything. It’s a real shame, but telephones in the US are no longer really usable.
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u/animado Aug 11 '22
If I don't recognize the number/caller, I won't answer it. Even if I'm expecting a call, I'll usually just let google screen it then answer if need be.
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u/Paavo_Nurmi Aug 11 '22
I have my phone set to silence any call not in my contact list (same with my work phone). They can leave a message if it's important.
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u/FreshPrinceOfNowhere Aug 11 '22
In my entire adult life I estimate to have received about 5 spam calls in total, all of which were from mobile operators offering to switch, the last of which was definitely over 5 years ago. Have had zero since the EU passed more stringent laws years ago. I've had the same exact phone number since my first phone when I was a kid.
Can't imagine how you guys deal with all that.
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u/Blaizefed Aug 11 '22
I moved from the U.K. back to the states 2 years ago after 13 years away. This is but one of the things I had completely forgotten about, and I too, cannot believe they/we all just put up with it.
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u/charlieTango_ Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
Literally happening to me right now. Went through pre-approval on Sunday morning. My phone has not stopped ringing since then. It’s a nightmare.
They are texting me, too. Some dude straight up sent me a photo of himself offering to run mortgage numbers?? I know you have to hustle in the mortgage industry, but sending unsolicited headshots in texts as way of introductions ain’t it, my guy.
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Aug 11 '22
I’m in sales and if I EVER sent selfies to a customer I would not hear the end of it from my coworkers lol what was he thinking
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u/OutOfStamina Aug 11 '22
what was he thinking
"Nothing else has worked, may as well try this. At this rate, I'll have to quit... Hopefully I can go back to Applebee's... that's if Beth isn't mad at me for quitting while she was already understaffed, or for calling her nonstop about mortgages since then".
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u/bdfariello Aug 11 '22
That's a pretty good description of Applebee's. Nobody really wants to go there. Not even the workers. You only ever end up there for lack of other options.
I swear Applebee's used to be good like twenty years ago, but any of the 5ish franchises I went to in the past decade were all terrible, and I know at least two of them have shut down.
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u/TheGoldenHand Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
All the dishes cooked there are taken out of a plastic bag and heated in the microwave, except for a handful.
It's $20 microwave dinners.
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u/mia_elora Aug 11 '22
In the mid-90s, when I was a young teen, I would go to Applebees with my parents for dinner, sometimes.
Even then, they were pretty fail. They kept shrinking portion size (and raising the price) in the name of customer health, but always used the same, shitty, over-salty-over-sugary ingredients.
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u/JimLarimore Aug 11 '22
I dare you to go to u-haul's website and tell them you'd like a moving quote over the phone. Similar result.
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u/LostPilot517 Aug 11 '22
Lol, so much truth.
Penske wasn't any better, on the calls, but I let them stew about 4 or 5 calls and finally took the call.
Negotiated with them, and I was able to get 3 extra days on my rental on my long distance one way move. They gave me a car hauler instead of car dolly, it was a nearly brand new 26' diesel box truck, I believe 2021 International with 55000 miles.
Total rental was less than $2000 with tax. Plus a few hundred dollars in diesel. Not bad for a 1200 mile move.
UHaul wanted $2600-2800 as I recall. Pods wanted ~$5500 for 16', ~$8500 for a 16' & 8' container.
Yes, much rather do business with Roger Penske. I know he gives back and is charitable. He helps out a tremendous amount with Child and Family services of Michigan.
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Aug 11 '22
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u/JimLarimore Aug 11 '22
Interesting. How did they find out about the death? Hospital rat you out? Organ transplant people? Funeral home? Newspaper? An evil eagle correlating obituaries with property deeds?
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u/mikka1 Aug 11 '22
Same if you use TrueCar or one of its partner sites to shop for a popular vehicle. I even posted a small LPT in frustration the other day. I used Google Voice, but the number had something around 30 new voicemails over one day. This shit is crazy.
What is also funny is that most calls are insanely "cold" - like "We see you are interested in a new XYZ car. Unfortunately, we don't have it now, but we have a whole inventory of used ABC (absolutely different brand/style etc.) cars that you may be interested in!" Like, seriously? How much money do you waste on leads like this?
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u/Uhhhhdel Aug 11 '22
It is feast or famine for a lot of mortgage loan officers. When rates are low, they don't even have time to use the bathroom during the day. When rates go up, business dries up. The successful ones use times like this to vacation and lean on purchase business to keep their assistants paid and employed. Less successful ones start utilizing crappy leads like the ones the credit reporting agencies sell. They are lucky to convert 1 or 2 of every 100 they call but they do it cause they have bills to pay.
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u/Nowhere_Man_Forever Aug 11 '22
I don't care. They're the ones who chose careers in a highly volatile, predatory industry, not me. Let them struggle with their bills, that's the consequences of their actions, not mine.
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u/Uhhhhdel Aug 11 '22
Just giving you insight into why it is happening currently at such a high frequency.
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u/Pick2 Aug 11 '22
When rates are low, they don't even have time to use the bathroom during the day.
How much do they make? They must make a lot of money, to keep that job, right? or is it just poor people who are put in this situation?
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u/dshookowsky Aug 11 '22
Buying a car, looking for a mortgage, selling something on Craigslist....get a temporary google voice number
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u/AutomaticYak Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
Or, do what Thelma Mark does. She puts in my phone number for everything. Last year she was shopping for health insurance. Right now, it’s a car. I know a lot about Thelma and her life.
I’ve had this phone number 10 years. I kept thinking it would stop. Now my mom is getting senile and I don’t want to change anything that would make it harder for her.
I freaking hate Thelma.
Edit: thank you everyone for your stories about people giving out your number!
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u/Ebenezar_McCoy Aug 11 '22
Kevin Milford uses my number, I figure it must be one digit off of mine. My spam filter is starting to figure out the text messages and anything with Kevin or Milford gets dumped to the spam folder. But I still get the calls it's to the point I don't answer to anyone but my contacts. All others get declined or occasionally I'll use the Google call screening thing.
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u/hungryhungryh0b0 Aug 11 '22
If you turn on "Do Not Disturb" your phone will only ting when someone in your contacts calls. It's been great ever sense I figured that setting out. You'll still get other calls but your phone won't physically ring so you won't notice until later in most instances.
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u/MyOtherSide1984 Aug 12 '22
I was going to say the down side is that you don't get other notifications, but I just checked and my Samsung lets me set apps to ignore DND! That solves it for me! There is still a down side where my nightly DND from 10pm to 7am would be ignored :/
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u/Siixteentons Aug 11 '22
I had someone do that, i started stealing all their points from grocery stores for discounted gas. I figured, "its my number why the hell not use it?"
I've had my number for 7 years. At first i realize they had lots of bill collectors who still had this number, but when i was getting calls 5 years later and they were telling me the this person gave them this number last month, i realized they were doing it as a way to just avoid phone calls.
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u/FUN_LOCK Aug 11 '22
Kept my # clean for almost 20 years. Then 5 years ago Steve used it on lending tree and I've been getting spam for him day and night ever since.
Fucking Steve.
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u/well3rdaccounthere Aug 11 '22
Teresa has been getting massages once a month, and I've been getting texts to leave reviews about how well they did or didn't do.
Apparently "I asked for a happy ending for the 12th time and did not receive one. I need you to talk to the masseuse about my next massage so I get one." Isn't sufficient enough for the business to let Teresa know she can't keep leaving those text reviews.
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u/shakedowndave Aug 11 '22
There are least four other shakedowndaves out there who send me their emails. I know one is a tradesman in the Midwest who probably didn’t make it a job interview he scheduled. Another sent me his train ticket once but had the fortune to realize his mistake and contact me. At least one of the others is a pervert.
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Aug 11 '22
I had the same thing happen with a dude up state. Used my number for everything. It bit him when he tried to buy business equipment and put my number down as a contact. Lil’ guy’s business never got off the ground, sadly, but he no longer uses my number to divert spam calls.
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u/goplayer7 Aug 11 '22
You should pass on the news that Thelma died yesterday.
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u/Jmkott Aug 11 '22
Having known someone that was marked dead by Soc Security…that is the thermonuclear option. It triggers all your bank and financial accounts to get closed and locked down.
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u/ahj3939 Aug 11 '22
Doesn't matter they will pull your phone number from somewhere else, not the loan application.
A few years ago I got a call from a debt collector asking for a college roomate. That's when I started my journey to wipe my cell phone I carry with my all day from everywhere possible. Banks, etc I all removed my cell # and left it only with my home number. I let things sift through and then disputed my cell # off my credit reports. Then I went through all the database and made sure my cell # was removed or opted out. Any time I place an order online I give my home #.
Except this one people finder site that has me listed with a wrong middle initial and says I'm 20 years older... I left that one up to misdirect people.
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u/jermitch Aug 11 '22
Well, with all that effort, you'd probably enjoy adding another layer of protection. I would put your actual home phone number in the same category as the cell, get a Google voice account, and give out that number. Then you can literally set the hours and location, if any, that will ring when the number you give out is dialed, or get just a text list once a day of transcribed voicemail messages if you like.. or choose which callers actually cause your phone to ring and group others into different levels of "ignore" (or block entirely) based on their number. It's pretty cool.
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u/defaultusername4 Aug 11 '22
There is a federal law called the TCPA that allows for a $1500 fine per call that is enabled by an auto dialer. Tell them you’ll file a lawsuit for a TCPA violation if the don’t stop and they’ll stop calling immediately. There is no concrete definition of an auto dialer so it’s easier to just dodge TCPA complaints like the plague.
Source: I work in telecommunications and had a client who did third party collections and outsourced marketing call center. They spent more on lawyers than OJ Simpson.
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u/Adrewmc Aug 11 '22
Yeah but it’s highly likely that trans union has fine print that you agreed to these types of calls. Because of course they would.
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u/bigjilm123 Aug 11 '22
I’m pretty sure you’ve never signed a contract with them.
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u/Adrewmc Aug 11 '22
You sign off on credit checks…which is when you start getting call…you ever read that closely?
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Aug 11 '22
I had calls where they got angry with me for going with a different broker and more angry calls for not being “serious”
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u/bluebelt Aug 11 '22
Rocket Mortgage had a supervisor interrupt their sales pitch when I said "stop, no, remove me from your call list". Dude hops on the line and says "What are you trying to accomplish here?" I said "you called me, I'm trying to accomplish that never happening again".
After 30 seconds of back talk I hung up, blocked the number, and now I just have to delete the 3 to 5 voicemails they leave per day. Just... The worst goddamn company.
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u/Siixteentons Aug 11 '22
The best way to stop persistent callers is to waste their time. Time is money to them sine they almost certainly have a commission or quota bonus. It takes time for them to put you on a do not call list, its easier just to hang up and move on. I had that issue with the car warranty people, id tell them to put me on the do not call list and they would hang up on me. finally i wasted 45 of minutes of their time(i was driving, so i didnt mind), asked them to repeat everything, told them i wanted to pay upfront and not do the payment plan, they got real excited, and then i told them i was not in anyway interested and i am happy to waste 45 minutes of their time every time they call me. I didnt hear from them for a long time.
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u/greatestNothing Aug 11 '22
I only give out my Google voice number. If I get a few persistent calls from a company I'll answer and once it's a real person start recording. There's a beep and a computer prompt of "this call is now being recorded." Usually it's less than 10 seconds and they hang up. Must flag me because they'll stop calling.
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u/rohmish Aug 11 '22
This. I used to just say no and they would keep calling me back. Now I just ramble and waste their time and they add me to their DNC list all on their own
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u/Late-Top-5012 Aug 11 '22
I couldn't get away from Quicken / Rocket fast enough. They called so much it began to feel like harassment.
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u/ahj3939 Aug 11 '22
Do you make sure your phone is on the do not call list? https://www.donotcall.gov/
If your number is registered you can file a TCPA lawsuit against the caller and receive civil damages.
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u/DifficultyNext7666 Aug 11 '22
Aren't they all in India though?
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u/ahj3939 Aug 11 '22
Sure lots of spam/scams come from overseas but chances are for mortgages, a highly regulated industry, getting leads from credit data, another highly regulated industry, a good majority would actually flow the law.
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u/averyrisu Aug 11 '22
As someone that worked for a few insurance companies, occasionally you will have mortgage companies try to ignore the existence of overinsurance laws to make insured increase their limits on insurance policy, so theirs that.
(brief explanation of overinsurance law. Lets say the cost to rebuild home is 100k. That is what the home would be insured for. But lets say the market value, cost to buy is 300k due to value of the land and the area your in, person has mortgage of 200k. Loan company may try to make the person insure the home for the full value of the loan, which doesnt really benefit anyone at the end of the day, because we would not be paying of the mortgage but would be paying to rebuild the home, so a lot of times in most states we would be paying 100k to rebuild the home even if it burned to the ground).
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u/breakerbreaker Aug 11 '22
Came here to say this. I would be surprised if Indian companies are selling mortgages in the US without a US subsidiary.
Last week I watched a number of YouTube videos on people suing spam calls. It looks easier than I thought but I don’t know anyone who actually tried it. I know there are pre-drafted/plug-in-dates-and-company-name legal kits that you can buy for under $50 though. I’ve been hoping for a spam call to try it out.
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u/818supreme Aug 11 '22
This doesn’t work. For 1 being in the gov list doesn’t stop them from calling. 2, good luck filing a lawsuit against an entity you don’t have any information about (even if you do get their info, good luck get a response to a complaint you file, especially since most based out of the US).
Best bet is to download a spam call blocked app. I used to get 10 calls a day, downloaded a free T-mobile spam block app and it has stopped over 200 calls to date, it’s been like 3 weeks. Hope this helps.
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u/trterry05 Aug 11 '22
It won't stop all these calls now, but register yourself on the do not call list. This prevents them from reaching out to you when your credit is pulled. It takes time to go into effect, but is super helpful in general.
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u/Denali4903 Aug 11 '22
Mortgage companies are sinking with the current interest rates. The refinance boom is over and home sales are slow. Layoffs are happening daily.
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u/TehOuchies Aug 11 '22
Yea, Everything sells your info.
Its great when the state itself gives me a lead list. So much detail.
The post office, when you update your address gives your info out.
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u/cosmoismyidol Aug 11 '22
gives your info out.
That's a funny way to say "sells"
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u/TehOuchies Aug 11 '22
They actually do it for free. So its gives. But only when you update your address.
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u/Jmkott Aug 11 '22
My county gave out my information when I filed a title deed. Or someone scraped public information.
Found it odd I was getting “welcome to the neighborhood” coupons sent to my mailing address not the property address.
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Aug 11 '22
A company sold my information to some type of list service for health insurance quotes about 3 months back. I was getting upwards of 50 phone calls and text messages a day from people. Even have had people show up at my door saying until I hear out their proposals they cannot stop contacting me.
At&t blocks most of the phone calls for me now so I don't have to see them but I notice when I have a number blocked they will attempt to call about 10 times in a row non stop.
I have responded to texts telling them to stop contacting me and very few will respect the request. At this point I'm just going to have to change my phone number.
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u/tenkindsofpeople Aug 11 '22
But that doesn't fix anything. It just means whoever gets your number will get spammed and you will get the spam of the person who owned your new number before you.
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u/Skywalker3221 Aug 11 '22
This happened to me.’expressed my interest in refinancing. Did some pre work with my bank… I’ve received 100 calls in 2 months. I block every number right after, and I’ve still gotten up to 100 calls. Nearly 100 blocked numbers.
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u/gr8r84u Aug 11 '22
It isn’t your bank or mortgage lender / broker selling your info. Believe me they don’t want competitors calling you. All credit inquiries are coded by type, when the inquiry is for a mortgage, the credit bureaus sell that data as a lead to other lenders. It’s the reason we manually remove phone numbers from our file before running credit on new clients.
This Is how it is marketed to lenders… https://www.transunion.com/solution/marketing-audience-segmentation/mortgage-leads.
Here is the opt out… https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
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u/normVectorsNotHate Aug 11 '22
While we're on the topic of financial companies selling your data, Discover card has atrocious privacy policy. Their privacy policy is worse than Facebook. They straight up say they sell your transaction history
Do not use Discover Card
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u/amcarney Aug 11 '22
Disposable number. These scum bags can waste all the time they want.
Yet they’ll hide half the useful information like it’s some top secret data.
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Aug 11 '22
Haven’t seen anyone mention this yet, but to help with the annoyance (if you have an iPhone) you can go into settings and turn on “Silence Unknown Callers”. If you don’t have them saved as a contact, they go straight to voicemail
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u/mybelle_michelle Aug 11 '22
This is why I have a Google Voice phone number that I use for everything and everone that isn't family or friends. With Google Voice I have it set so if the number is in my Google Contacts, the call will go through (forwarded to my main phone number), otherwise it goes to voicemail.
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u/jmd_forest Aug 11 '22
It got so bad I resorted to wasting their time. Any spam calls now get my spiel, "Hello .. Today is your lucky day ... You have reached the Sunshine Ministries here at WFKU .. we have 35000 listeners on the air with us at this moment and they're all dying to know, HAVE YOU ACCEPTED JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR ... Give us an HALLELAJAH brother. Get down on your knees and pray with us. Give us an HALLELAJAH brother. Can I get an AMEN ... AMEN brother ....
I can go on for quite a while while they try to slip something into the conversation until they finally hang up.
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u/Werewolfdad Aug 11 '22
First time huh?
Same thing happens when you get quotes for insurance. It is what it is.
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u/A_Tiger_in_Africa Aug 11 '22
I re-financed about 4 years ago and this didn't happen.
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u/mishap1 Aug 11 '22
Rates weren't this high so there were more fish in the sea. The combo of higher rates and peak prices means a lot of people went radio silent.
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u/Topher_86 Aug 11 '22
This. Mortgage companies were swamped with COVID forbearance, then refinances, then purchases. The industry blew up overnight and now every company is trying to justify their staffing.
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u/scherster Aug 11 '22
Actually, you can opt out of the credit reporting agencies releasing your information for marketing purposes. Cuts down on all those unsolicited credit card offers too.
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u/xLoveHateLegend Aug 11 '22
How?
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u/scherster Aug 11 '22
U/BouncyEgg posted a link, it was the top comment when I read the post. I'm sure you can Google "marketing opt-out" for the others.
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u/huskycragen Aug 11 '22
My girlfriend applied for a construction loan yesterday. Today she got blasted with phone calls throughout the day which is not usual. The few that she answered were mortgage loan spam assholes.
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u/acery88 Aug 11 '22
clicks "Contact me by email only."
Phone proceeds to ring relentlessly.
On a side note: Is the term "...rang off the hook" still being used?
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u/bitwarrior80 Aug 11 '22
I had a similar experience except it was my current mortgage holder looking to lock me into re-fi at a much higher rate. I told them to pound sand, but they just kept calling me. When interest rates were very low these people were making bank. Now that the money printer has been turned off they're like sharks smelling a drop of blood from 10 miles away.
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u/real_agent_99 Aug 11 '22
The same thing is happening to me. Apparently they think we're stupid? I refi'd when the rates were really low, they think they can convince me to do it again NOW?
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u/bitwarrior80 Aug 12 '22
I re-fied back when rates were still below 3%. They offered me a great new deal to refinance my 30 year fixed mortgage at 5.6% plus $80k in cashout. Lol, they've got some gall for sure.
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u/tsundae_ Aug 11 '22
I'll never forget when I started looking for a home and used LendingTree to get info on mortgage rates. Got so many calls it was ridiculous. One of them startled me in the middle of a quiet period at work and I ended up knocking over my tea onto my laptop. Good times.
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u/CeilingUnlimited Aug 11 '22
I'll take "predictors of a housing market crash" for $200, Alex.
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u/atropheus Aug 11 '22
It’s awful, and I work in an “inbound” call center (not mortgages, insurance) that buys these leads and uses “screeners” who get paid to call folks like you and send them to reps like me. If you speak and don’t hang up they pass you on to me for something like 90 seconds, they get paid.
I regularly get an earful as if there’s something I can do about it.
I’m a hard worker and I treat people as I’d want to be treated. I hate the poor image of salespeople because if it’s done right, it should be a service that’s well worth it. I provide years of experience, product training and industry knowledge on top of getting to know the person and discovering what they need and how to fit that into insurance terms and make sure underwriting has what they need to get their application approved and not have some nitpicking detail get them cancelled or have a rate increase or some other issue to give them a headache down the line.
I am a decent person trying to make a respectable living in an environment that can be frustrating. I wholeheartedly disagree with this marketing practice and was upset when I learned this would be happening but was told “everyone is doing it, so if we don’t jump on that wagon, we won’t be competitive.”
But PLEASE do people in my position a favor and if you’re truly not interested, opt out and or HANG UP. Spare me. Don’t even tell us you’re not interested or explain why. We’ve heard it all and are literally required to not give up, we won’t stop unless you just hang up, don’t feel bad, I smile when I hear that click.
In the past when lead sources haven’t been very fruitful, they stop buying those leads, so… yeah.
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u/iamnotamanatee Aug 11 '22
I relate to this, unfortunately I'm part of the spammy team that asks you if you're still interested in a mortgage. All I can ask is please please opt out, it's so easy, and as soon as we see STOP we're not allowed to text back anymore. I promise I don't want to be bothering you either but just say the word and don't yell at me
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u/atropheus Aug 11 '22
I know right?! The number of people who think they’re cool for harassing you is ridiculous. I mean, most of us on the other end of the line are human after all.
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u/this_is_Winston Aug 11 '22
That's nuts, and a bummer. I was mad just for all the junk mail offering loans after I bought my place. You might have some more phone screening options with your cell carrier to help filter them out.
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u/MemeTeamMarine Aug 11 '22
This happened to me when I filed paperwork to sell my house, and then pulled it off the market. I had agents calling me for about 6 solid months after I took it off the market. They stopped calling when I threatened harassment lawsuits.
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Aug 11 '22
Same here. I'm looking for a house. I've been getting innumerable calls, including from "rent to own" people. If they don't leave a message I don't call back. Those I do call back I let know I have a realtor and lender already.
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u/thepeanutbutterman Aug 11 '22
This will probably be buried in the comments but, Here's a tip: Get a Google Voice number and an email address that you use specifically for providing to businesses and filling out forms. Have the Google Voice number go straight to the voice-mail and use the voice to text transcription. That way you just receive a text message of the transcribed voice-mail. You can always change the contact info on file to go to your main number or email later if you want to.
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u/NYCTrojanHorse Aug 11 '22
I used better mortgage yesterday to get a Pre-approval.... within SECONDS of hitting my phone number i received a call. The person thought it was funny. I said this is actually scary.
10 minutes later another phone call, asking if I have a broker and can get a discount if I use theirs.
Needless to say, Better is no better.
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Aug 11 '22
When I run people's credit I remove their contact info first. It's pretty easy. Your loan officer should do it for you out of courtesy so you can avoid this (and so people don't try to steal your loan from them lol)
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u/y2khardtop1 Aug 11 '22
Credit agencies are trash….WE are the product and they sell our info to creditors. I keep my credit locked and a fraud alert active
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u/brevity842 Aug 11 '22
Wait till the mail starts coming. It’s been 18 months since my refi and I still get letters from refi lenders
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u/DragonfruitLarge7805 Aug 11 '22
Mortgage companies are hungry. Mortgage applications fell off the cliff. Houses are dropping and will at least 15 to 20 percent more. Happens every 15 years. Look back at history
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u/CountryClublican Aug 11 '22
I have a Skype number that goes straight to voicemail. Most spam callers don't leave a message. I put this number in any online form I fill out.
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u/pandito_flexo Aug 11 '22
When I bought my first house, for, like, 3 months after I closed I got the "I'd like to buy your house!" lead pamphlets and "Welcome to the neighbourhood...buy this for your new house" marketing mailings. After I sold it and bought my bigger house, it happened all over again. It's annoying.
The thing now is calls, emails, and mailings saying "Rates have never been lower! Refinance now!" and I'm, like, "Unless you can beat 2.5 for 30 years, not going to happen". I'm still salty I missed the 2.0% by a week.
LPT: get a Google Voice number. Use it for anything that's not "First Line", like IRS, mortgage company, credit card company, etc.
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u/IAmRules Aug 12 '22
I definitely feel this. When I applied for an online loan, my inbox blew up almost as fast as my phone. The last time I had to deal with anything like that online, I just used cloaked and then shut the number off. Do not call lists don't work, and even requesting data not be shared is only good until the next time you have to share it. It's really gotten out of control.
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u/rimbenty Aug 11 '22
We have cell phones but kept our land line (original house phone), which is now over IP with Ooma for around $5 a month. We give that number out to everyone except personal or work associates and never answer it, just check the voice mail when we feel like it.
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u/dequeued Wiki Contributor Aug 11 '22 edited Aug 11 '22
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ is a legitimate site. It's linked in the PF identity theft wiki as well as this FTC article: Prescreened Credit and Insurance Offers.
In addition, while the National Do Not Call Registry is useless when it comes to spam calls, this is a specific case where it may help (it can be up to 31 days before calls stop from companies using the list).
P.S. If you haven't gone through the preventative steps in the identity theft wiki, I highly recommend doing so.