How to Beat Factual Data

George Simons | October 19, 2022

Co-Founder of SoloSuit
George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

You when you beat Enhanced Recovery Company ^^

Summary: Is Factual Data hurting your credit score? Are you thinking about taking legal action? SoloSuit can help you know your rights, take a stand, and beat Factual Data.

If you are being sued by Factual Data, or are considering taking legal action against Factual Data, it is important to go into it with your eyes open to ensure you are fully informed about what to expect during a lawsuit.

What is Factual Data, and what does it do?

Factual Data is not a debt collection agency. Rather, Factual Data is a credit reporting company that specializes in providing credit data to mortgage companies. The company also provides credit reporting services at different steps in the mortgage application process, including:

Prequalification associated with soft inquiry reports.
Hard inquiry credit reports.
Debt monitoring.

Typically, when a consumer applies for a mortgage, a lender has the option to check your credit. They use that information to help determine whether you're a viable candidate for the mortgage loan. However, many mortgage companies do not want to invest time and resources in pulling credit reports, so they hire a company like Factual Data to handle that aspect of the mortgage application process.

In addition to working with mortgage lenders, Factual Data has branched out to assisting rental companies with retrieving credit data to determine whether someone qualifies to rent an apartment, condo, or other property. Factual Data utilizes “DataVerify” to secure income and employment verification from an applicant. DataVerify also provides information on identity. Verifies OFAC, SSA, SSN, date of birth, and other watchlists. They will also check credit reports, employment and income history, property information, and debt information.

Factual Data also uses “AmRent” as a tenant screening service. AmRent uses its own proprietary databases along with outside information to compile data on potential tenants. AmRent reports on the following: criminal records, eviction data, identity verification, credit reports.

Factual Data has received many complaints

If you are feeling super frustrated with Factual Data, you're not alone. As of 2022, Factual Data has received 144 complaints on its BBB profile in the last three years. These complaints demonstrate how common it is for Factual Data to run a hard inquiry on consumers' credits without their permissions.

Let's consider an example.

Example: “Factual Data did three hard credit checks with two of the large credit reporting agencies costing me points on my FICO score. I was not applying for any credit at that time and my credit files were locked. Was someone else trying to apply for credit in my name or why were these credit checks done? They need to stop this. I doubt it will happen as it looks to be going on for a few years. Are they a front for scammers trying to get sensitive information to apply for credit in someone else's name? This needs to be looked into by someone who can do something about it.”

Learn about your legal rights from the FCRA

Your credit report and overall credit score can be key factors for whether you will get approved for a mortgage or to rent a particular property. This is why Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This federal law is designed to help protect consumers and their credit data.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the following rights and protections:

Credit reporting agencies (including Factual Data) must be certain the information they report is accurate and up-to-date. Oversights and inaccuracies on your Factual Data report, or reports, could very well lead you to being denied a mortgage.
You have the right to request a copy of your file from any credit reporting or consumer reporting agency.
If you were denied credit, housing, employment, or anything else due to information found in your credit report, background check, or any kind of employment screening, those using the information must tell you, and they must give you the name, address, and phone number of the agency that provide them with the information.
You have the right to request a copy of your credit score from consumer agencies that create or distribute these scores (there are three “major” credit score companies in the United States).
Any negative information on your credit report that is over seven years old is not allowed to be used in your report.
Bankruptcies over ten years old should not appear on your credit report.
Any current or potential employer needs to secure your written consent in order to access any consumer reports such as your credit report, background check, or any pre employment screening.
You have the right to dispute errors on your consumer reports.
When there are mistakes on your credit report or background check, it is important to dispute them right away.
You have the right to sue credit reporting agencies that report false information.

Discover Factual Data inquiries on your credit report

If you see an inquiry on your credit report from Factual Data and you have not been working with a mortgage lender, you should consider disputing the inquiry with the credit reporting agency. Why? Because hard inquiries on your credit report can negatively impact your credit score.

Do not let inquiries that should not be on your credit report go undisputed. Failing to remove unnecessary inquiries could potentially result in you having to pay higher insurance premiums and higher interest rates.

Dispute an error on a Factual Data credit report

Whether it is a merged credit report or a CreditIQ credit report from CoreLogic Factual Data, there is a general assumption that these reports should be free from any errors. This is why you should take immediate action if you discover an error on these types of reports. In fact, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) states that consumer reporting agencies should make sure that the information they provide to lenders and other companies is accurate and up-to-date.

Unfortunately, mistakes on these types of reports are fairly common. As a result, the FCRA provides consumers the right to dispute errors on their reports. The credit reporting agencies have 30 days to investigate your dispute and make any corrections. If they fail to take corrective action, you should consider filing a lawsuit in order to beat Factual Data in court.

File a dispute with the main credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, Experian.

Take legal action against Factual Data

If you were harmed economically by the oversights contained within your Factual Data credit report, you may be able to take legal action and file a civil lawsuit against the company in federal court. Under the FCRA, you have the right to sue the credit reporting agency. You may also be able to take legal action against the company that used the information provided by Factual Data against you.

Important takeaways on how to beat Factual Data

Here is what you need to do if Factual Data is damaging your credit incorrectly:

Know your rights under the FCRA.
File a credit reporting dispute.
File a lawsuit against Factual Data.

Remember that you have options if your credit has taken a hit because of Factual Data.

If you are being sued by a debt collector, use SoloSuit's free Answer form to respond to the debt lawsuit and win in court.

Good luck!

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You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

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