Spam Calls in Minnesota After Starting a Home Buying Process

So, this is completely annoying and I would say borders on harassment.  Maybe not even borders, but full on harassment.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Recently we started a home refinance process to move our mortgage to a 15 year fixed instead of the 30 year fixed loan.  We are already working with a mortgage company to get the ball rolling.  Well, of course, as part of the process, they will run credit.  This is normal, right?  Yes, it is.  Your credit will determine what type of loan, rate, etc that you will be eligible for based on that score.

DID THE MORTGAGE COMPANY SELL THE INFORMATION?

But what you may not realize, and I certainly didn't, is that when your credit is run, those top 3 credit reporting agencies will sell your information to any and all mortgage companies and lenders.  Therefore, you get bombarded with calls about your mortgage loan and finance.  When I say bombarded, I mean since we started this process, we have received (we, both my husband and I) at LEAST 300+ calls in the last 5 days or so.

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This is craziness!!!  Luckily, I do have a Google phone, and it does filter out almost all of the calls. They still show up, and sometimes leave messages, and that will fill up your voice mail.  But at least my phone doesn't ring everytime.  Sometimes it does, but not every time.  It also fills up my "recent calls" on my phone, that when I'm actually looking for someone that I would like to call, without going through my contact list, that is almost impossible.  I can scroll and scroll before I find someone who was an actual friend or family or business call that I want to reference and call back.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT THIS?

There are a few things that you can do, one drawback is that the process can take a month or two to work.  By that time, the calls my have decreased or stopped all together, but at least it's something for the future.

OPTOUTPRESCREEN.COM

The official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website to accept and process requests from consumers to Opt-In or Opt-Out of firm offers of credit or insurance.

 

REGISTER WITH THE DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

Sign up for the Do Not Call Registry to opt-out of receiving telemarketing calls. It’s free to register your phone number, and can take up to 31 days to stop receiving unsolicited calls

Also, anytime you do receive a call that is spam, or just a call you no longer want to receive, feel free to use that "block and report" button on your phone.  Luckily my phone does that automatically to MOST unwanted calls.  Also, the Google Assistant screens the call.  They can leave a message and I can call back and add a "do not screen" to a number of a caller that I would like to talk to.

This is such a tedious battle.  Just beware.