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Hello all...can I dispute and request to have removed hard pulls from the government that have nothing to do with credit (employment check)? It was my understanding that hard pulls only came from places that are actually giving you credit. Are landlord, employer and other non-credit lender pulls hard pulls, are are those supposed to be only SP? Thanks.
Just to add, the apartment complex I rent from HP'd TU.
Lease agreements or contracts, if a credit check is required, will do a hard pull on your credit.
However, they're viewed differently by credit card companies. Obviously if you're apartment hunting, you're going to have multiple checks and they acknowledge that. Same goes for mortgage shopping as well.
The exclusion of inquiries related to credit or insurance transactions is regulated by FCRA 604(c)(3, which states:
"Except as provided in section 609(a)(5) (which authorizes the consumer to request such records), a consumer reporting agency shall not furnish to any person a record of inquiries in connection with a credit or insurance transaction that is not initiated by the consumer."
A summary of other relevant statutory provisions:
For credit or insurance-related transactions:
(Permissible purpose authorized under FCRA 604(a)(3))
If initiated by the consumer (apps for new credit or requests for credit llimit increases:
They are not excluded from credit reports made available to others (i.e., can show as a "hard" inquiry)
If not initiated by the consumer (e.g., unsolicited promotional offers, creditor internal account reviews):
Specifically excluded from view by others under FCRA 604(c)(3), and available only to the consumer, such as by use of annualcreditreport.com
For business transactions that have a stated legitimate business purpose (such as apartment rentals, utilities, cable, auto purchase
(Permissible purpose authorized by FCRA 604(a)(3)(F))
No restriction on CR inclusion (i.e., can show as a "hard" inquiry)
For purposes of collecting on a debt
(Permissible purpose authorized by FCRA 604(a)(3)(A))
No restriction on CR inclusion if the deb collector has legitimate collection authority (i.e., can show as a "hard" inquiry)
For employment purposes
(Permissible purpose authorized by FCRA 604(a)(3)(B))
The consumer must have been advised of and pre-approved the inquiry in writing (FCRA 604(b)(2)(A))
Are credit inquiries not "any item of information contained in a consumer's file"?
Apparently, the CRAs must think not............
FCRA 611(a) compels CRAs to reininvestigate as follows:
"Subject to subsection (f), if the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly, or indirectly through a reseller, os such dispute, the agency shall, free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to determine whether the disputed information is accurate...."
The exemption of disputes related to credit inquiries applies ONLY to direct disputes, as stipulated at 16 CFR 660.4(b), and not to disputes filed with a CRA.
If a CRA summarily refuses to conduct a reinvestigation of a dispute of any item of information contained a a consumer's credit file, they are in clear violation of the statute.
Perhaps they meant that they wont do a reasonable reinvestigation, but that is another violation!
This is an interesting topic - I am unable to get two HP's off my report:
The HP's were not authorized, the company that did the pulling agreed, they sent me copies of the three letters they sent to the CRA's, requesting the HP's be deleted from my CR:
EX removed them, TU & EQ didn't.
So I disputed directly with these two CRA's, including a copy of the "delete letter", EQ said (direct quote from dispute results)
"Inquiries are a matter of record of all companies that have accessed your credit file. If you have additional questions about this item please contact:" ...the name/address of the company that pulled them.
This pisses me off. I don't know what recourse I have, but pretty much just going to say F it and move on, they're over a year old so not affecting my FICO (i think it works that way...) but the principle of it makes my blood boil!
I had the same thing happen with a HP that was not mine - this person had the same first & last name, lived in a city I'd lived in, but applied for a car loan in another state. One to which I have never even been. I talked to the auto loan folks, and they agreed that somehow it was attached to the wrong SSN, but I could not get it off no matter what I tried. I'm trying to wait it out at the moment - it's also a year plus.
So frustrating.