gcmoore Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 What if a company checks your credit report without your permission, and you have no affiliation, account, or debt with that company? Is that illegal? What can be done. I've read that inquiries count against you. So I'm irritated this company has done just that without my ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbercreektech Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Were these hard inquires? Who was the culprit? They could potentially be another collection agency or JDB buying old debt. You don't want to wake a sleeping giant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 What if a company checks your credit report without your permission, and you have no affiliation, account, or debt with that company? Is that illegal? What can be done.There are permissible purposes (two I can think of) for this case. Of course, it's in the FCRA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaryu Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 There are permissible purposes (two I can think of) for this case. Of course, it's in the FCRA.how would you go about checking that on truecredit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 how would you go about checking that on truecredit?You don't.1) A trimerge doesn't give you enough info.2) A trimerge doesn't show you softs.3) Even if it were from the CRA itself, they may not show the specific category of pull.For example, a pull under 604(a)(3)(E) may show as an account review, but it might not seem like an account review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 This is a hard inquiry that shows to others checking my report. Not the soft inquiry that is only seen by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilton1 Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Is the company a CA/JDB? I know for me the CA/JDB pulled my report before the tradeline was reported. I knew it was just a matter of time before i would be receiving a dunning letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahntara Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 The FCRA has a list "permissable purposes" under which your credit file may be accessed. There is a sticky at the top of this page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Is the company a CA/JDB? I know for me the CA/JDB pulled my report before the tradeline was reported. I knew it was just a matter of time before i would be receiving a dunning letter.I'm not sure what type of collector it is. It's the company here:http://www.generalrevenue.com/partners.htmI don't have any past due student loans and this place supposedly collects student loan debt. Mind you, I do have two loans that were consolidated. But they are currently in deferrment, no late payments, and when I spoke to the bank handling my loan, I was told they never use outside collectors. They would collect on their own behalf if it came to that. So there is no reason this place should be on my report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 The FCRA has a list "permissable purposes" under which your credit file may be accessed. There is a sticky at the top of this page.I'll check the list of "permissable purposes" to see if anything stands out. Ironically this student loan collector is in the same state as a JDB that recently purchased a past debt of mine. I don't know if they are affiliated or if it's just a coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 The CRA is required to provide you with the name and address of anyone accessing your report upon your request. So ask them for that. Then send a letter to the company that pulled your report and ask them what business they had pulling your report. If they did it by mistake, then they owe you a check for $1500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 The CRA is required to provide you with the name and address of anyone accessing your report upon your request. So ask them for that. Then send a letter to the company that pulled your report and ask them what business they had pulling your report. If they did it by mistake, then they owe you a check for $1500.I have the name and address, but didn't want to call the company until after the credit bureau contacted them to verify why they pulled it. So I placed a dispute. Now if it is removed after the credit bureau's investigation, will I still be able to go further with this? When you say a "check for $1500" is due, what violation would that fall under so that I can include it with my letter? When I asked the credit bureau what I could do if it's proven they've pulled my report without permission, I was told "nothing". They would just remove it from my report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbercreektech Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 [blockquote]When I asked the credit bureau what I could do if it's proven they've pulled my report without permission, I was told "nothing". They would just remove it from my report.[/blockquote]They may have thought you were talking about them (CRA). But agian, these drones don't know much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 See the sticky on "removal" of inquiries in the credit repair section. I explain the legal side of it there.In short, the CRA is never supposed to remove an inquiry until it is over 24 months old. If they do they are breaking the law. The law includes a statutory penalty payable to the consumer for non permissible pulls of your credit report in the amount of $1500 to compensate you for the fact that inquiries must remain in your report for 2 years, even if it was pulled by mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 See the sticky on "removal" of inquiries in the credit repair section. I explain the legal side of it there.In short, the CRA is never supposed to remove an inquiry until it is over 24 months old. If they do they are breaking the law. The law includes a statutory penalty payable to the consumer for non permissible pulls of your credit report in the amount of $1500 to compensate you for the fact that inquiries must remain in your report for 2 years, even if it was pulled by mistake. If this is true, that means unauthorized inquiries can continue to make the report of a consumer look bad, without removal or mention that the inquiry was unauthorized? That doesn't sound too good. I would hate to have 5 or more at one time. I'll check the sticky.Edit: Ok, just checked the sticky. The only problem is that the letter used as reference is from 7 years ago. Laws change every year. Just to be on the safe side, does the FCRA have any recent notice that the credit bureau can't "legally" remove an unauthorized inquiry? I'm sure I'll be challenged by the CRA and the Collector if I try to collect $1500. So I'd like to direct them to current violations by the FCRA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 The section of the FCRA law requiring the CRAs to maintain a record of inquiries for 24 months has not changed. Keep in mind it is perfectly OK for the CRA to supress the inquiry so it does not affect your score. It will still show up on reports you get for yourself because the law requires it, but a creditor pulling your report would not see it.Also keep in mind, many people do sucessfully get inquiries removed, but it is not legal. Think on this: You get the inquiry removed. You now have no proof they got the copy of your report. If that copy was to fall into the hands of a fraudster, where's your proof of the source of the leak? Keeping track of inquiries is for your protection. The fact that Fair Issac (FICO) uses it against you is not an CRA issue, but an issue with the makers of the scoring model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadhead Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 The CRA is required to provide you with the name and address of anyone accessing your report upon your request. So ask them for that. Then send a letter to the company that pulled your report and ask them what business they had pulling your report. If they did it by mistake, then they owe you a check for $1500.Methuss,Where are you getting the $1500 from? Statutory is $1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 My bad. You're right it is $1000. I was reading something else and transposed a number while typing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadhead Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 However, I've demanded and gotten much more that $1K when a company obtained my CR w/o a PP. In fact, one company settled for $2500 a few years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 However, I've demanded and gotten much more that $1K when a company obtained my CR w/o a PP. In fact, one company settled for $2500 a few years back.Lawyer fees and court costs could easily surpass the statutory damages due the consumer. If you have a rock-solid case of non-pp pull, it would be cheaper for them to settle for triple statutory than face court action and have to pay lawyers and court costs on top of that.If I goofed up and pulled a report in error, I'd settle for $2500 outright, too. Lawyers get about $250 and hour. Just the prep work to file the case would entitled the consumer's lawyer to another $1000 easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I received the results of my dispute, and the creditor who checked my report without my permission was removed. So what do I do now to fine them for doing so illegally? Do I just contact the company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elyse449 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I received the results of my dispute, and the creditor who checked my report without my permission was removed. So what do I do now to fine them for doing so illegally? Do I just contact the company?On some level, you got to pick your battles and decide if it's worth it. You got the inquiries off of your CR's, right? If it were me and if I had other eggs to fry, I'd leave it at that. JMHO.Elyse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcmoore Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 On some level, you got to pick your battles and decide if it's worth it. You got the inquiries off of your CR's, right? If it were me and if I had other eggs to fry, I'd leave it at that. JMHO.ElyseIf it will be a difficult process most likely that's what I'll do. If it's just a matter of reporting it in writing and waiting, I can use that grand to pay a creditor. I'm also wondering why this compay checked in the first place. Somehow I have a feeling it wasn't an accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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