can you freeze your credit without cause

[lost-in-credit-hell]

I was just reading something on here and it made me wonder... can a consumer freeze their credit themselves to prevent a company they are or have done business with in the past from running their credit? Does a freeze affect your score as much as collectors running your credit every freaking month?

[Focus2069]

I was just reading something on here and it made me wonder... can a consumer freeze their credit themselves to prevent a company they are or have done business with in the past from running their credit? Does a freeze affect your score as much as collectors running your credit every freaking month?

why would you let collection agencies run your credit every month?

Im pretty sure they cant do that without a permissable purpose......

[Debt Guy]

you misunderstand the phrase "freeze your credit". When you signed the contract agreement with your creditors you gave them permission to view your credit history. Any creditor to whom you owe money has "permissible purpose" to view your credit. Of course, creditors with whom you have had or currently have a business relationship may report your credit history to the CRAs.

[TTigggers]

A freeze only stops new Creditors from pulling and viewing your report.

All of your existing creditors can still pull your report (yes that includes CA's)

[Focus2069]

All of your existing creditors can still pull your report (yes that includes CA's)

but, every month?

[Amerikaner83]

I think OP was exaggerating just a wee bit.

[swirlgirl]

If the creditor finds it necessary to run credit every month, it sound like the OP may be behind on the payments. Bring the account current and the pulls should stop.

If your account is current, then contact some higher up at the company and tell them to stop.

[lost-in-credit-hell]

I think OP was exaggerating just a wee bit.

If you are referring to me, no they are pulling my report monthly, even the ones that are paid on time like my HSBC and Imagine cards although I think HSBC does it every other month or so. New collectors are also running me and there is one company, I have no idea who they are that is pulling monthly and are listed as a collection. I am just starting this process, so this is new to me. I have no idea what they can or can't do, and from looking at information on this site, some have done very illegal things in attempts to collect. Such as cussing and threatening, though that creditor finally stopped when I quoted the fair credit act and told them to only contact me via mail.

[thomassl]

If they are pulling a "soft inquiry", you are the only one who sees it so it really doesn't matter. The hard inquiries are the real ones to be concerned about. Check your credit report to see which ones they are.

[Debt Guy]

some have done very illegal things in attempts to collect. Such as cussing

Vulgar language is a violation of the FDCPA. To use the violation effectively, you need to prove the violation. Recording conversations is effective.

and threatening,

Threats are not violations unless the context of the threat is impermissible. For example, I can threaten to sue you and clearly be within the law (except in one limited situation we will ignore for purpose of the explanation). But, if I threaten to beat the snot out of you or to have you arrested, then the story is different. But, again such violations are only helpful to you if you can prove the violation.

though that creditor finally stopped when I quoted the fair credit act and told them to only contact me via mail.

The FDCPA does not provide for a "contact me only by mail". You have the right to cease all contact but not to specify contact by only one medium. Sending a limited cease and desist can be dangerous if you are risk adverse. For that reason, I discourage it. My advice to anyone who does not wish to speak to a collector is to exercise your option to either not answer the phone or simply to hang up.