Consumer complaint received 2017-11-23
Product: Mortgage — VA mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: iFreedom Direct Corporation (MS)

I contacted a company, XXXX XXXX XXXX, out of XXXX XXXX XXXX, UT. About buying a home using my VA Benefits. The Loan officer I spoke with was very friendly and was very helpful. She checked my credit reports and said that it was good. She said I had NO problem qualifying for a mortgage up to {$140000.00} and maybe even more. All of this took place on XX/XX/XXXX. We began to look for a home and found '2 '' that we were interested in, during this time, I was communicating with the loan officer on a daily basis, through phone calls and emails sending paperwork back and forth that she needed to begin the process. On XX/XX/XXXX we looked at one of the homes and on XX/XX/XXXX we looked at the other home. I contacted the loan officer about the home we were most interested in and because it was a " for sale by owner '' we had to get the closing attorney 's information. It was Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, when we got that information and forwarded it to her. The home we decided on was a little more expensive {$160000.00}. The loan officer again stated that my credit and income was good enough to qualify for that amount and even a little more. For the rest of that week, the seller, myself and the loan officer communicated daily by phone and email send documents back and forth. On XX/XX/XXXX, I gave my credit card number to the loan officer to pay for the appraisal, {$450.00}. Everything was still going fine as far as I new. We continued to communicate and on Friday evening, XX/XX/XXXX about XXXX XXXX, the loan officer called me and said some Judgments or tax liens showed up. I ask her on " What '', because she had said that there was nothing derogatory on my 3 " Credit reports ''. I also have checked my credit reports and there was nothing on them about any judgments. I ask her where the information came from and she just said they " showed up ''. Since it was Friday evening late and we were not at home, I told her to email the information to me and I will look at it and talk to her Monday. There were actually 4 items, but 2 of the were the same. So there were 3 items that were on the paper she sent. During the time I was trying to save my home from foreclosure between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I went through a lot and did get behind on other bills trying to pay the mortgage payments that changed with every modification. Between over {$1800.00} and {$2600.00} a month. There were some judgment, but to my knowledge they were all cleared, by either, garnishment of my pay or by a XXXX, cancellation of debt, on my XXXX Tax Form. I believe the last time I saw any on my credit report was in XX/XX/XXXX. These items were " not '' any on my credit reports lately. So I automatically assume everything was straight. I have not heard or seen anything until this company said the judgment showed up. The one loan that was justified by garnishment was from a local finance company. I contacted this company and they said my debt was paid, but had failed to send out a dismissal letter. They filled one out and it was sent to the loan officer. I also sent the " 2 '' XXXX, one from XX/XX/XXXX and the other from XX/XX/XXXX, to the loan officer. That is all of the paperwork I can find concerning any debts that were not paid, during that bad time. There maybe other debts but, I can not remember for sure. I had dealt with so much back then fighting to save my home, that I have forgotten a lot and during the move a lot of paperwork either got thrown away or is boxed up somewhere. It is not completely clear on which debt was with whom, because at least one debt had been sold to another company and collected by them. This is where everything gets confusing. The loan officer first there was " NO '' Judgments or Liens on my " 3 '' credit reports. Then, she said that the information about the judgments came from a company called, XXXX XXXX, and gave me a phone number of XXXX. I called and spoke with a XXXX, and she said that XXXX XXXX XXXX had requested a credit report about me, on XX/XX/XXXX. I explained to her the issues about the judgments and she stated that the report they had sent to them contained " NO '' judgments or any other derogatory remarks. So I called the loan officer back and told her what I had been told, " THEN '' she said well the information " actually '' came from an internal ( within their company ) drive. I ask her what she was talking about. She started to tell me about something they have that they use. I ask her if it was something like these " background check '' website that you hear about and she said, " NO ''. I explained to her that from what I have seen those types of sites are not to be used to determine a persons worthiness for credit. I finally got her to send me a copy of packet called `` DRIVE Scoring Results ''. From what I can tell it was generated by, '' iFreedom Direct Corp dba XXXX XXXX XXXX. I will try to attach the copy that I have as an attachment. The pass word to open it is " XXXX ''. This packet appears to have been made of information from a background check website, as there many names that are not me. There is some information about judgments that may or may not be mine, and at least one of them has been paid off, and probably more of them. The issue I have, is that if my credit reports do not contain the derogatory information, is it legal for them to go to these other sites, trying to dig up stuff that may or may not be on me. Then if something is found, they expect me to research things that are 7 years old with little or no information and because I had moved much of my paperwork was lose or thrown away.  I have been under the impression that credit decisions are made using the information contained in the " 3 '' major credit reporting agencies. These agencies are trusted and used because the consumer has the ability to check them and see if the information is correct. They can also dispute anything that they feel is incorrect. I have done that in the past. The problem here is that XXXX XXXX XXXX after reviewing my Legal Credit Reports, decided to use another website, that " I had no knowledge of and did not have the ability or option to review my credit information prior to applying for the mortgage. '' Now I am stuck trying to celebrate the holidays, and research information, about these items that may or may not be mine. This was all caused because they did not stick to using the " 3 '' Legal Credit Reports. They had already set a closing date of XX/XX/XXXX. That is now not going to happen. My wife is very disappointed, as am I, and feel as though we have been treated unfairly, and XXXX out of {$450.00} on a home appraisal for a home we will probably not get.