Feds' Civil Suit: Outfit Acquired 17,000 Lists Conatining Consumers' Credit Info Prescreened For Mortgage-Delinquent Homeowners, Then Peddled Lists To Loan Modification Operators

In San Diego, California, Courthouse News Service reports:

• Two people and their three companies paid Equifax for credit reports on millions of delinquent consumers, then sold the lists to bad actors in the "debt relief" business, the United States says in Federal Court.
  
  The United States sued Robert M. Bailey Jr., Linda Giordano, and Direct Lending Source, Bailey & Associates Advertising, and Virtual Lending Source.

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• The defendants "purchased over 17,000 prescreened lists containing the consumer report information of millions of consumers from Equifax," according to the complaint. "The lists included, among other things, consumers' credit scores and whether they were 30, 60, or 90 days late on their mortgage payments.
  
  "Defendants sold these prescreened lists to third parties. For example, defendants sold over 2,400 lists to entities that target consumers in financial distress for loan modification, debt relief and foreclosure relief services. Some of the lists were sold to entities with names such as: 'Save Me From Foreclosure,' 'SOS Modification,' 'Stop Your Lender,' 'Virginia Foreclosure Preventing,' 'Making Homes Affordable, 'Fight Your Credit Co.,' and 'Debt Regret.'"
  
  Equifax is not a party to the complaint.
  
  People may not obtain consumer reports without a "permissible purpose," under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

For more, see Uncle Sam Whacks Credit Report Sellers.