Can a collection agency put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

[Anonymous]

Just got an alert from Experian of a new credit inquiry. Its from one of debt collectors. Are they allowed to do that?

[IOBA]

My first insitnct is to say "YEP!"

Should it be a soft pull?  Probably.  But yeah, if you owe them money, they have a right to pull credit.

[RobertEG]

FCRA 604(a)(3)(A) grants permissible purpose to a debt collector to obtain your credit report for collection on a debt of the consumer.

That permissible purpose applies as long as they have active collection authority, and does not require consent of the consumer.

It can be coded as "hard".

Many debt collectors will pull as "soft" in order to "hide" the inquiry from view in general credit reports, but there is no such requirement.

[Anonymous]

Dang. Is there at least a limit on how often they can do it or do I need to worry about this being done regularly?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Dang. Is there at least a limit on how often they can do it or do I need to worry about this being done regularly?

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They can pull anytime they want I suppose. I have read where a CA hard pulled someone's credit file every 30 days.