Give Me Back My Credit!: One Woman's True Story of Surviving Credit Errors (Paperback)

~ Denise Richardson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Denise Richardson paid a little extra on her mortgage each month, hoping to shorten the length of her mortgage and pay less interest charges. That simple, recommended practice catapulted her into an epic David vs. Goliath battle(s) stealing her true credit identity and a decade of her life. After reclaiming her good name-briefly, she realized others were shredding her credit and would steal another five years of her life. Denise paints a human face on the insidious effects of Identity theft, inaccurate credit reporting and loan servicing fraud while offering chapter lessons that provide knowledgeable tips to help prevent becoming a victim of a system gone terribly wrong.

About the Author

Denise Richardson his been an avid consumer advocate for fifteen years working steadfast in her resolve to bring greater transparency to the credit industry and to improve the way that consumers are treated by creditors and the credit reporting agencies. She is on the Board of Directors of ACCESS (American Consumer Credit Education Support Services) and a contributing writer for guardmycredifile.org an ACCESS project and is a member of many consumer advocate organizations. She was born and raised in Vermont, a long time resident of Greenfield, Massachusetts and currently makes her home Hollywood, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Infinity Publishing (September 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0741434741
• ISBN-13: 978-0741434746
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,255,651 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A demonstration of the vagaries of consumer credit law, October 26, 2006

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

To descend into the depths of an outworn cliché, this book describes the mother of all credit problems. Through no fault of her own, the author and her husband are labeled as extremely poor credit risks. As amazing as it sounds, the problem begins when they try to prepay some of their home mortgage. However, due an error committed by the lender, their payments are misapplied and they end up being listed as in default. This then snowballs into an incredible problem as their "poor performance" is then reported to the credit agencies.
As these events unfold, they try to resolve the problem and talk to representatives of the company holding their mortgage. The representative is at first sympathetic and admits to their error. However, fixing the problem turns out to be an impossible task, as promises to change the records are unfulfilled. Legal action is launched against the company and rather than try to simply fix the problem the company throws an army of lawyers at them and engages in a great deal of arrogant nastiness.
It is not possible to say that this story has a happy ending. The stress over fighting the battle to get her credit restored destroyed her marriage and the stress led to some health problems. She eventually received compensatory monetary payments but punitive damages were denied by the judge. This book is a lesson in the vagaries of consumer credit law as consumers don't have all the legal rights that one would believe. The one good thing about the events in Denise's life is that it is an object lesson that you must pay very close attention to the bills you receive and be extremely pro-active in getting problems resolved as soon as possible.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE IWO JIMA AGAINST CORPORATE GIANTS, March 21, 2007

By	Soapsuds "MC" (El Paso, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Author Denise Richardson and I decided to exchange our literary works. I sent her my novel "The Kids on the Block," and Denise sent me hers; "Give Me Back My Credit." Even though "The Kids on the Block has some sad parts, for the most part it is humorous and hilariously funny. Denise's true story is, on the other hand, tragic, nightmarish and bloodcurdling to say the least. I do not expect Denise to have much humor left after what she went through in fighting an arrogant, error-plagued, contemptuous Mortgage Bank and the three national credit bureaus.

Denise is the Iwo Jima against corporate giant's who, not only ruined her credit, but made her life worse than a living hell.

If you are like me and feel safe and confident since your credit score is above the 700's do not be too complacent and seat on your recliner thinking all is good and well. I jumped out of my seat after reading the first two chapters!

In author Denise Richardson's book "Give Me Back My Credit" she tells how her nightmare and living hell began. She, too, thought and felt safe and confident that everything about her mortgage on the home she owned was better than best. She made it a point to make extra payments to the principal of the mortgage loan, and of course, her credit rating was excellent as well.

Years later Denise decided to refinance her home. Much to her astounding surprise, she finds out the Mortgage lender had made many dreadful, inexcusable accounting errors on her mortgage loan. The lender never credited the extra mortgage payment to the principal of the mortgage loan.

The mortgage lender had not only been misapplying those extra payments, but was using her money to their benefit. After she found out the inexcusable mistake the lender had been making for years, the mortgage lender refused to correct their accounting errors. Denise's nightmare and living hell began.

From face-to-face battles against the corporate giants to inefficient attorneys and courtroom dramas the fight to regain, restore and have the errors corrected by the Mortgage lender only compounded into a bigger nightmare. From there it spread like a cancerous disease to the three national credit bureaus of Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.
This is a story the reader will not forget. The reader will learn from it and, sadly to say, from Denise's nightmare.

I didn't think I needed to read "Give Me Back My Credit;" I was wrong! I hope the book finds its way to the halls of high school and college administrators and make the book required reading for all students.

If you feel you don't need to read her book, you, too, will be wrong.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read-- as entertaining as informative, October 11, 2006

By	Kevin Ross Peterson "yutka" (Winter Haven, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a wonderful book... as much as it is terrifyingly real... the credit issues and the unbridled power of the "Big Three" to randomly destroy any life they choose... It is a smooth read... A hard to put down tale that leaves you shaking your head and wondering if you'll be next.
As extreme as this may seem...it is merely a drop in the tremendous bucket of Credit lies, deception and h3ll that people go through...
Great book.