Mystery credit inquiry from Amazon/GEMB during mortgage process

[Anonymous]

I am preparing to apply for a mortgage, and I just noticed that my TU report shows I have an inquiry from GECR/Amazon PI or something close to that. When I look at my report, they pulled a "hard" inquiry back in March as well. I have never applied for any new credit this year!

I called the number on the credit report provided, and it turns out it is an amazon.com credit card. The man who answered was very rude and said it was impossible, because none of my information is in their database.

I started to dispute, but because I am less than a month away from applying for my mortgage, I stopped myself. Does anyone have any advice?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am preparing to apply for a mortgage, and I just noticed that my TU report shows I have an inquiry from GECR/Amazon PI or something close to that. When I look at my report, they pulled a "hard" inquiry back in March as well. I have never applied for any new credit this year!

I called the number on the credit report provided, and it turns out it is an amazon.com credit card. The man who answered was very rude and said it was impossible, because none of my information is in their database.

I started to dispute, but because I am less than a month away from applying for my mortgage, I stopped myself. Does anyone have any advice?

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If you know you didn't apply is it possible some one else could have applied and used your name (A spouse, sibling, mom, dad, as examples)?

If not you can contact the credit bureau and ask them to provide you with their permissable purpose for inquiry. There is a charge for this but I am unsure the amount, thinking under $20. Then you proceed from there.

If you dispute it, you have a possibility of holding up your mortgage until dispute is cleared and removed. 

IMO I would just wait until finish closing on home before I proceeded to do anything. You do not want to jeopardize your loan. Once closed and moved in then tackle this issue. 

Enjoy your new home!!!!

[Booner72]

Just explain to your loan officer you have no idea why this was pulled and they will believe you.  I had a mystery hard inqu in May from Qwest.  Right before the file went to UW, Lo asks me again "What about this Qwest thing?"  I was so frustrated bc I had emailed her about it 10000 times.  I guess she learned to just ignore me and send a standard "you're fine - we've got this" reply.

[RobertEG]

The real problem with removing credit inquirees is that a CRA does not provide a credit report to an inquiree unless they receive a certification under FCRA 604(f) of some permissible purpose under a provision of section 604.  It is a pure self-certification.  Once the CRA has that self-certifying request in their files, the inquiry was legitimately filled unless you can show that the requestor's certification was inaccurate.  The CRA has a real "cover their butt" on credit inquiries, making it next to impossible to dispute.

To get to the source of their asserted permissible purpose, the path is to file a request with the CRA under FCRA 609(a)(1) for that information.  If your request is accompanied by proof of your identity and the required processing fee, they must provide the requested information.  The specific fee is not stated in the statute, as it is authorized to be adjusted by the FTC.  The FTC published the most recent notice of fee adjustment in the Federal Register in January of this year, setting the current fee at $11.00..

[Anonymous]

Thank you, All for your responses. What a frustrating issue!