10 year old debt resurfaced, closing in a week. Need advice.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are set to close on our house in a week.  My loan officer said that she is required to get a written statement for any credit inquiries on our credit reports in the last 90 days.  My husband's report shows a recent inquiry from Leading Edge.  Leading Edge is a collection agency with a track record of bending laws and harrassing people in this area, sometimes for debts that aren't even theirs.  (I found all sorts of horror stories when I did a search to find out who Leading Edge is.  There's also a guy at work who said they hounded him for months for a debt that wasn't even his - same name but different social.)  The only thing we can think of is that it might be an old credit card debt that was written off over 10 years ago.  Internet research leads us to believe it isn't even legal for them to get a hard pull on our credit without our consent.  Neither of us have ever spoken to the agency.

I have no idea what to do at this point.  We are not willing to lie.  At the same time, we don't want this to put a stop to our closing next week.  We can't close without providing a statement to our loan officer.  Also, I'm not sure it is a good idea to contact this agency until after we close because they have such a track record of blackmailing and otherwise harrassing people.  I wouldn't put it past them to do everything they can to kill the mortgage in order to force us to pay, rather than letting us take care of it quietly.  If it is a legitimate debt, we'd like to make good on whatever is owed but the timing really stinks! 

1.  Is it illegal for a collection agency to pull your credit without consent or is that just an internet myth?

2.  If it is illegal, does that really help us at all since we still need to make some sort of statement? 

Any suggestions on how best to handle this or how to word my husband's statement are greatly appreciated.

Edit:  I found a couple of posts on the forum that talk about underwriters wanting to ensure that you haven't taken out new credit.  Since we really aren't sure what Leading Edge was pulling for, do you think a letter stating that we did not initiate anything that would result in an inquiry and that we have not taken out any new credit would be sufficient?

Message Edited by mcdonee on 04-03-2009 03:14 PM

[happy0510]

It seems to me like you have nothing to worry about in telling the truth.  Any old collections that aren't even showing up on your report are not going to be a deal breaker.  As far as Leading Edge.  Call the CRA and tell them it was unauthorized. 

[medicgrrl]

If you are 100% sure you don't know what they pulled for then you have every right to say that you are unaware of them pulling your credit and have no idea why they did and that it was not an authorized check.  You aren't lying and you didn't take any credit out with them.  The underwriter is just asking to see if you have new credit that is not showing up yet.

[rivernh]

I had a collection agency do a hard pull on my credit just as I was applying for  a mortgage. I was able to find out it was the agency that collects for a very old (12 years!) debt of mine from my divorce.

I was asked about it by the LO, she found it actually, and we looked up the agency online and I recognized the name from dunning letters.  

I told her that as far as I could tell they had no permissible purpose to pull it, it was unauthorized and that it was really old debt.

They were only concerned that I wasn't applying for any new debt.That was the end of it.

Message Edited by rivernh on 04-03-2009 04:15 PM