My Story

My mortgage servicing and credit reporting nightmare began with a seemingly innocuous mortgage coupon book that I used to make my monthly payments. I had decided to make extra principal payments each month and noted the additional monies on the check and in the appropriate place with my "payment coupon" stub.

The problem was this: because I paid with a coupon book, there were no monthly statements -and no way track and verify that payments were applied accurately. And it wasn't until I applied for another loan that I realized that many payments were erroneously applied and some -not at all.

Many amortization schedules later, it became quite apparent that the lender's continual errors had grown to the point where correcting the miscalculations and illegally charged fees had become impossible. My battle with the servicer and credit bureaus engulfed my life. It took 10 10 grueling years and turned my once ordinary life unrecognizable. 

I was born and raised in New England, where I worked for many years as a real estate paralegal handling mortgage closings and all the complexities that come with buying, selling and refinancing homes. I once held the belief that if I paid my mortgage on time, just as I did my other bills, my credit rating would paint a true and accurate picture of me --a hardworking ordinary person who always paid her bills on time.

I would soon learn that belief was just a myth.

I also believed that if there were errors on my credit report, all I had to do was provide proof that a debt was paid, or not owed, whichever the case may be, and it would be cleared up.

That belief was soon shattered too. 

I also came to realize that I wasn't alone--it just felt that way.

Looking back: A few news clippings demonstrating my fight to urge lawmakers to mandate that mortgage servicing companies provide borrowers a monthly mortgage statement;

• "Greenfield woman battles the big banks"
• "Legislators back locally proposed loan statement law"
• "New regulation: state defers to federal mortgage statement efforts"
• "To Your Credit: Going to court over bad credit reports"

Articles and Documents

"When Banks Merge, Be Wary and Reassess Your Banker" (Bankrate.com) Read article

"Consumers Suing to Correct Bad Credit Reports" (Bankrate.com) Read article

"7 Steps to Fixing Your Credit Report" (Bankrate.com) Read article

"Who's Policing the Credit Cops?" (Businessweek.com) Read article

Richardson v Fleet Bank, Equifax, Experian, et al

Learning about Identity Theft the hard way.

My first bout with credit card fraud was easily corrected and chronicled in my first book; Give Me Back My Credit! Sadly, there would be multiple id theft incidents to follow that were not  so easy to rectify.  My passion to understand the crime and its impact led me to become a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist. 

Today, more and more people are making significant inroads to ensure corporate wrongs are exposed.  They're writing letters, launching websites, creating blogs, and founding their own support groups and non-profit organizations--all in an effort to humanize and share the repercussions that someone else's actions had on their lives.  Traumatic events in our lives leave scars--visible or not, they are there for a lifetime.  Sharing personal stories hiding behind the scars often help right wrongs --and lessen the pain.

I never really understood the importance of doing so--until now. I hope that by sharing my story it humanizes it --and then validates and inspires others who have faced similar battles, to do the same.