Collection agency softing repeatedly

[Anonymous]

I read that you can check your soft inquiries through experian, so out of curiosity, I decided to have a look. I was surprised to see a company by the name of Convergence Outsourcing. The list of companies I owe or have owed is very short and I know what should be on there. They have been softing me about every 6 months for YEARS.

I did a little looking into who they were and found out they are a collection agency. One which has a horrid history of shady tactics. Such as sending collection letters to groups of people with the same name, just seeing if they can get a bite.

They have never actually contacted me, but I still dont like the fact that this company that I have had no business with is pulling my credit. No hard inquiries, or I would have known before now, just softs. Can I get them to stop? Or have the bureaus not supply them with information? This just blows my mind. It seems like this should be illegal. I dont know if it is or not. Any advice?

[RobertEG]

The issue is very simple.

If they have current collection authority on a debt of yours, they have permissible purpose to obtain your CR under FCRA 604.  Those inquiries could be coded as hard.

However, if they did not have active collection authority at the time they made any inquiry, they lacked permissible purpose, and their inquiry was thus not permissible.

In making any inquiry for a consumer's credit report, a party is required to provide a statement of their permissible purpose to the CRA.

Falsification of such a statement is a serious violation.

I would suggest sending a request to the CRA under the provision of FCRA 609(a), which entitles a consumer to obtain any information of record in their credit file, for a copy of their statement of permissible purpose.

Armed with that statement, I would then file a civil action for having obtained your credit report under false pretenses.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your help. I will definitely contact the CRA and ask for the statement of purmissible purpose. 

Any idea on why they are doing this? Im guessing they think I might have an account they could possibly collect on? But if that were the case, why would they keep softing me and not contact me? This just seems very strange for someone to keep pulling my credit over the span of several years without even contacting me. The first one was almost 4 years ago, and the most recent was 2 days ago. 

[RobertEG]

A debt collector may wish to assess the consumer's current credit status as an indication of their current ability to pay.

Are you still within SOL for your state?

[pipeguy]

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@RobertEG wrote:

A debt collector may wish to assess the consumer's current credit status as an indication of their current ability to pay.

Are you still within SOL for your state?

+10

Exactly ! 

The CRA's actually sell this information as one of their credit products, think not? Apply for a mortgage and any and every old debt will come out of the woodwork - you can thank the CRA's for this. Look around on the EQ/TU/EX sites at the credit products they offer and you'll see they play both sides of the game, selling "information" to all parties.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I read that you can check your soft inquiries through experian

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You can check your Experian soft inquiries through Experian.  If you want to check your soft inquiries with the other CRA's you'll need to get reports directly from them.

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@Anonymous wrote:

This just seems very strange for someone to keep pulling my credit over the span of several years without even contacting me.

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It's not unusual.

[Anonymous]

Am I still within the SOL of what? I stated in the OP that I am confident I dont owe them anything, and that they have never contacted me stating I do own anything. Just MANY soft pulls over a period of several years. This company is well known for pulling shenanigans. A Google search of them will show you what I mean. I will contact the CRA about the CAs permissible purpose.

[Anonymous]

thats super werid i would watch you credit report ad make sure nothing is going on