Aw crap, a Certified Letter

The BBQ Pit
1

Yesterday, when I got home, I found a notice from the local post office informing me that I had a certified letter waiting for me, and that I could pick it up in the morning. The sender was listed as “Govt.”

Shit. Those things are NEVER good news.

I mean, I just finished paying off a bankruptcy. What if they figured out that, somehow, I didn’t pay enough? Or they’ve found some back taxes that I never knew about… or I’m being sued… Crap. Crap crap crappity crap.

So, after a sleepless night, I drove my butt on over to the post office… and, sure enough, there’s a featureless yellow envelope waiting for me.

I opened it, and read the first few lines.

“It has come to our attention that you may be eligible for a lower rate on your mortgage…”

What. The. Fuck.

I look at the header. “Government Load Program, Amtrust Mortgage Corporation”.

You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. Spam? CERTIFIED SPAM?

Okay, I’m pissed. But we’re not talkin’ “angry” pissed. I’m not going to just post about this in the BBQ pit, complain, and then toss the letter. Oh no… I’m "vindictive" pissed.

I have a new hobby.

I’m going to call up Amtrust. I’m going to take them up on their kind, generous offer. I’m going to get the ball rolling on refinancing my house. I’ll fill out paperwork, make all the phone calls, you name it…

And then, when they expect me to actually sign and complete the mortgage, I’ll stop the process, and tell them exactly what I think of their particularly scummy advertising campaign.

Bastards.

2

And they’ll smirk, taking some consolation in what you’ve just done to your credit score. :wink:

3

He just took bankruptcy. His credit won’t be hurt by a little query. :smiley:

4

Missed that.

Go for it, dude! :wink:

5

I got certified mail from the MPAA once.

6

Aw man, that is crappy not to mention a damn expensive way to reach a target audience.

7

We got one of those.

Then, they sent a second and a third letter (not certified) getting more threatening!

The third letter started off, “This is the third time we have contacted you and we have yet to hear from you regarding this matter.” Blah blah blah.

Pretty crappy, if you ask me.

8

A load of what?

9

A “load” of

Hey, I was tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night, remember? :smack:

LoaN. LOAN. Gah.

I did some research… according to the Better Business Bureau, Amtrust has had complaints registered for exactly the same reason I had- that of advertising through certified mail.

I guess I’ll be calling Amtrust in the morning, to get the paperwork rolling on my new mortgage. :slight_smile:

10

I know, I was just yanking your chain. You just can’t pass up a straight line like that!

11

Dude, totally go for it. If you don’t get the loan–who cares, you’ll be working on cleaning out your credit report anyway–that nast old Inq will be disappeared in a jiffy with the old, “I never authorized that inquiry, hell I never even *heard * of that company” letter.

If you DO get the loan–Wa-Flickin-HOO! New credit line to help with the reconstruction.

If nothing else, maybe they’ll figure out that if they must advertise via certified mail, then perhaps they should screen their targets a little better.

Give 'em hell!

12

It could always be worse. It could be a letter from the landlord notifying you of an impending 5% rent increase.

13

I once worked for a mortgage company - I was the person on the phone you talked to when you wanted to refi. Let me tell you, the company puts in quite a bit of money and time to get that refi loan going. If you want to hit 'em, that’s about the only (legal) way to do it.

I say go for it. And report to the BBB. If you decide not to do the loan to piss 'em off, go to the papers, go to the newstations… Make it so they can’t ignore how pissed off you are.

14

The letter was signed for, and he called and told them he’d like to go for it, that’s all the proof they need for the inquiry. Of course, like other people said, just coming out of bankruptcy, a single inquiry isn’t going to do much damage. But you may want to contact the BBB anyways. When they ask what you’d like to be done, tell them you want your name removed from their list, and you want them to contact all three credit beareus and have the inquiry removed.

15

Hijack: Why does a credit inquiry hurt your score?

16

Bah, send the same letter enough times & it’ll land in front of the right overworked clerk who’ll delete the inquiry for you. :slight_smile: Besides, nobody’ll have any record of his signature for the letter, nobody the CB would check with anyway.

17

A credit inquiry does no harm to your rating; being denied credit does. If an inquiry is made pursuant to a credit application, and no credit is issued, then potential creditors may interpret that as a denial of credit, even if you decided not to accept the loan.