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It is a permissible pull since you intitiated a business transaction with them.
It appears to be unusual to request a CR if your payment status with them is in good standing, but they did have the legal authority to access your CR.
I would call them and ask them to either delete or recode their inquiry with a soft pull code.
Was it a Tenet facility? They did this to me years ago when I literally crawled into the emergency room. They weren't even equipped to deal with me, and I was only in their facility long enough to get stabilized before they transferred me to another hospital, where I spent 7 days but didn't get my credit pulled.
I now have all my reports frozen, and I'm curious if they'd be able to now.
I may be wrong, but as I understand it, a hospital is not a creditor and therefore cannot pull your credit. The pull is additionally unauthorized because you received no notice of the debt. That's how I understand it, at least.
@Anonymous wrote:I may be wrong, but as I understand it, a hospital is not a creditor and therefore cannot pull your credit. The pull is additionally unauthorized because you received no notice of the debt. That's how I understand it, at least.
How is a hospital not a creditor? You obtain services from them generally without paying at the time of service because the expectation is that they will bill you at a later time. Isn't that basically the definition of a creditor -- someone you owe money to?
A party who has a legitimate business need for your CR information in connectiton with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer has specfic permissible pull authority under FCRA 604(3)(a)(F)(i). Hospitals can assert such a need if they render services prior to receiving payment, and thus want to assess your ability to pay. Having insurance does not assure they will receive full payment. I would assert that if you pay in cash at the emergency room, then they could not assert such legitimate business need for your credit information. Otherwise, they are extending services prior to receiving payment, and thus can assert a legitimate business need. It would be difficult to dispute what they consider a "legitimate business need."
The expectation of repayment for services rendered is a well-accepted form of "credit" under the FCRA, and extends to such other transactions as apartment rental, auto rental, utilities, and cable/internet services.
My daughter (now deceased) had hospital bills totally over $600k. I've personally had bills totalling over $100k. While insurance picked almost all of them up, I've never once had my credit pulled by a hospital or doctor's office. Hospitals and doctors don't do that type of thing. That's why they have close relationships with collection agencies. Also, the fact that no bill was ever sent before the credit pull is even more surprising. I've googled the heck out of this and I can't find anyone talking about a hospital pulling their credit, nor any information on whether they have PP to do so.