dougpratt
last night i came across an article in the washington post indicating that class action lawsuits have been initiated against fannie & freddie for their use of loan prospector and desktop underwriter, the FICO based programs being used throughout the industry to originate mortgage loans.
i immediately emailed kenneth harvery of the post, the author of the articles. check this out:--
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17857-2002Oct25.html
a homeowner by the name of donald weidman in philadelphia is the lead plaintiff, and while my attorneys were unable to initiate any action on my part, they did advise me that i have enough damages to go into federal court as a model, not just a party to, this type of action. there are links to several more articles written by kenneth harney, including one suggesting that trial lawyers are setting their sites on fannie and freddie as a starting point to crack open the legal nut so imperviously constructed to lock out any and all direct consumer action against the FICO/CRA/banking ripoff megastructure.
if i can enjoin these lawsuits, the case i have to present is pretty rock-solid, perhaps enough so to force a settlement. my goal would be to expose and eliminate the iron grip FICO scoring has held upon the lending industry for the past several years; if credit scoring is to remain, i should hope it might come under regulation of some kind, and that consumers could ask for their loans to be manually underwritten, or dispute the score itself so that it is not considered in their applications.
the use of scores to quickly approve applicants, or for marketing purposes, can be constructive. never should computer programs which are arbitrary and obviously badly flawed be allowed to give the final word NO, or be used to price-gouge consumers with high interest rates and unfavorable and restrictive terms on credit accounts of any kind.
i come down particularly hard on FICO scoring because this is the component of the automated underwriting processes i identified first as being the primary cause of all of my financial losses and diffriculties. apart from monetary damages, it has destroyed my livelihood. i can no longer do what i love to do, what generated a six-figure income for me each year, and provided me with security and purpose. it's pretty hard to put a dollar value on lost opportunity, helplessness and despair.
it was the adoption of credit scoring by fannie and freddie in 1996 that has given rise to the rest of the lending industry following suit. once upon a time, lenders competed with each other-- the one offering the best product would usually get the business. the new FICO controlled system provides the legal basis and insustry standards with which consumers can be price-gouged and denied their basic rights. racism is in the scoring model demographically; the same borrower with the same credit profile seeking the same loan will get a different FICO score depending upon the zip code. {UN}fair isaac has openly admitted that blacks and hispanics are a "higher risk group," and mortgage applicants from zip codes of neighborhoods that are predominantly minority are penalized. call it descrimination by proxy-- legalized racism. welcome back, jim crow--:mad:
if fannie and freddie are made to defend the fairness of their automated underwriting programs in court, they will have to turn to the source-- the authors of the software, namely, {UN}fair isaac. let a federal judge subpoena the magic quackware that is ruining people's lives and costing the american consumer billions of dollars every day of every year. people have to understand what's happening, then something will be done about it. publicity is the best way to start. let the problem be know, so more victims will come forward. lawyers will then make the effort to learn and take the bull by the horns. once this is done, i'm sure legislators and government agencies whose job it is to protect consumers from scams of this nature will be forced to take a good look at what's been going on, and take appropriate action.
i'll post more information about this as it becomes available. let's hope and pray this is the beginning of the end of FICO's control of the lending industry and over our lives and future.
goodnight----;)
i immediately emailed kenneth harvery of the post, the author of the articles. check this out:--
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17857-2002Oct25.html
a homeowner by the name of donald weidman in philadelphia is the lead plaintiff, and while my attorneys were unable to initiate any action on my part, they did advise me that i have enough damages to go into federal court as a model, not just a party to, this type of action. there are links to several more articles written by kenneth harney, including one suggesting that trial lawyers are setting their sites on fannie and freddie as a starting point to crack open the legal nut so imperviously constructed to lock out any and all direct consumer action against the FICO/CRA/banking ripoff megastructure.
if i can enjoin these lawsuits, the case i have to present is pretty rock-solid, perhaps enough so to force a settlement. my goal would be to expose and eliminate the iron grip FICO scoring has held upon the lending industry for the past several years; if credit scoring is to remain, i should hope it might come under regulation of some kind, and that consumers could ask for their loans to be manually underwritten, or dispute the score itself so that it is not considered in their applications.
the use of scores to quickly approve applicants, or for marketing purposes, can be constructive. never should computer programs which are arbitrary and obviously badly flawed be allowed to give the final word NO, or be used to price-gouge consumers with high interest rates and unfavorable and restrictive terms on credit accounts of any kind.
i come down particularly hard on FICO scoring because this is the component of the automated underwriting processes i identified first as being the primary cause of all of my financial losses and diffriculties. apart from monetary damages, it has destroyed my livelihood. i can no longer do what i love to do, what generated a six-figure income for me each year, and provided me with security and purpose. it's pretty hard to put a dollar value on lost opportunity, helplessness and despair.
it was the adoption of credit scoring by fannie and freddie in 1996 that has given rise to the rest of the lending industry following suit. once upon a time, lenders competed with each other-- the one offering the best product would usually get the business. the new FICO controlled system provides the legal basis and insustry standards with which consumers can be price-gouged and denied their basic rights. racism is in the scoring model demographically; the same borrower with the same credit profile seeking the same loan will get a different FICO score depending upon the zip code. {UN}fair isaac has openly admitted that blacks and hispanics are a "higher risk group," and mortgage applicants from zip codes of neighborhoods that are predominantly minority are penalized. call it descrimination by proxy-- legalized racism. welcome back, jim crow--:mad:
if fannie and freddie are made to defend the fairness of their automated underwriting programs in court, they will have to turn to the source-- the authors of the software, namely, {UN}fair isaac. let a federal judge subpoena the magic quackware that is ruining people's lives and costing the american consumer billions of dollars every day of every year. people have to understand what's happening, then something will be done about it. publicity is the best way to start. let the problem be know, so more victims will come forward. lawyers will then make the effort to learn and take the bull by the horns. once this is done, i'm sure legislators and government agencies whose job it is to protect consumers from scams of this nature will be forced to take a good look at what's been going on, and take appropriate action.
i'll post more information about this as it becomes available. let's hope and pray this is the beginning of the end of FICO's control of the lending industry and over our lives and future.
goodnight----;)