What constitutes permissable purpose for a soft inquiry?

[haulingthescoreup]

I don't think that they had permissible purpose. You weren't seeking credit, you weren't an established customer, and they sure weren't deciding whether to extend you credit.

I think that it's a violation of your privacy rights and good for $1000 (the fine for accessing your credit reports without PP.) But I'm sure that they would argue against this. So I suppose it's up to you whether to pursue it.

And certainly they should never had billed you in the first place. This is why businesses, including hospitals, carry liability insurance.

[Anonymous]

It was a soft pull...not a hard pull...

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
It was a soft pull...not a hard pull...

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There is no difference between soft and hard pulls when it comes to violations of PP. The injury is not whether you get an inq on your reports (which would not be good), but the fact that they accessed your credit records without your permission and without any legitimate excuse.

You'll see posts here saying oh well, it was a soft, so I guess that there's nothing I can do, but it's a privacy issue, not a credit issue.

It would be like someone accessing your medical records without your permission. Even if they didn't use the information to jack up your health insurance rates, or deny you coverage or something, the point is that they had no business snooping around in the first place. (Hope that makes sense...)

[Anonymous]

I would agree that you should talk to an attorney about your rights, both regarding the fall and the credit pull.  I don't think a hospital should pull your CR without providing a service first. 

But I do have a question: did anyone from the hospital contact you regarding your fall and what they would or could do about it? 

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:

There is no difference between soft and hard pulls when it comes to violations of PP. The injury is not whether you get an inq on your reports (which would not be good), but the fact that they accessed your credit records without your permission and without any legitimate excuse.

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Agree 100%!  The requirements in the FCRA that distinguish between hard and soft pulls are independent of the requirements for PP.  ALL pulls require PP, hard and soft alike.

[credit99]

Hello Everyone.  Thanks for all of your responses.  No, nobody from the hospital ever contacted me about my fall.  My health insurance ended up covering it and I think I had to pay $45 out of pocket (which annoyed me) but then I figured it would be too much aggravation to argue with the billing reps over it.  But then it really irked me when I saw them nosing around my credit the day after the fall.  My son and I are were out in North Carolina from California for his second surgery and then when I fell I ended up on crutches so we were both the pair. 

[Anonymous]

Don't sue the hospital, but do file a claim with their Insurance Carrier immediately!!!! At the very least you will get any out of pocket expenses paid back.

Most importantly, if your health insurance finds out a 3rd party is possibly liable for the $$ they paid out and you didn't tell them they can deny the claim and send you a bill. Make sure you check your Explanation of Benefits from your Insurance company to make sure they pay out!

As far as them looking at your credit reports... unless there is a small disclaimer in the forms you signed stating they might do this they can not.

Message Edited by 1111mel on 06-14-2008 09:01 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

....Most importantly, if your health insurance finds out a 3rd party is possibly liable for the $$ they paid out and you didn't tell them they can deny the claim and send you a bill. Make sure you check your Explanation of Benefits from your Insurance company to make sure they pay out!

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Good point, I hadn't thought of that! Two of our kids played soccer, and we have visited innumerable ER's around the southeast. We always got a form from our insurance company asking us to call and verify that another party wasn't liable and going to pay. Well, maybe the coach that set three players on my daughter to take her down as she headed a ball, resulting in her 4th concussion, was probably liable, but we weren't going after him, although DH had to be restrained.

Any accident resulting in injury is coded with two codes: one describing the injury (sprained knee, broken wrist, etc.) and a second code called an E-code, describing the external cause of the injury (slipping, collision in sports, hit by returning space vehicle. Yes, there is an E-code for this.) The presence of an injury code and especially of an E-code will generally trigger one of these forms from your insurance company, hoping that they don't have to pay. For the life of me, I can't remember the exact term for this, but we've gotten our share over the years.