Unauthorized Inquiry

[JonRun]

So, if a collection agency has been signed to an account of yours, they can just make a hard pull on your credit report whenever they feel like it? What stops them from doing it repeatedly just to drop your score?

[pizzadude]

CAs won't pull your report that often because it costs them $ each time they request your report. They do however like to post collections or inquiries when they think you'll be highly motivated to pay, it you are trying to buy a house for example. The CRAs sell connection triggers to CAs to notify them of such events. Also ~ I agree with the above comments that unfortunately do have PP to pull your reports if they have your account.

[rckstrscott]

---

@pizzadude wrote:
CAs won't pull your report that often because it costs them $ each time they request your report. They do however like to post collections or inquiries when they think you'll be highly motivated to pay, it you are trying to buy a house for example. The CRAs sell connection triggers to CAs to notify them of such events. Also ~ I agree with the above comments that unfortunately do have PP to pull your reports if they have your account.

---

^^^^

This is why we pay pizzadude the big bucks!

-scott

[RobertEG]

A primary reason for the existence of the credit reporting agencies is to report on the credit of consumers.  Their business is not limited to providing access to their information for the purpose of generating credit scores. 

It is one of the reasons that business can be conducted with consumers that they otherwise have no knowledge of.  FCRA 604 provides a listing of types of requests for consumer credit history that do not need specific pre-authorization of the consumer.  The consumer's initiation of requests for credit, insurance, and certain business transactions trigger their ability to pull a credit report.  Permissible purposes are not confined to credit.  Unauthorized credit pulls are those that do not have a specific authorization under section 604, not those that the consumer has not specifically authorized.

Debt collectors have specific permissible purpose when they are legitimately collecting on a debt of a consumer. 

Businesses have permissible purpose when the consumer initiates a business transaction that involves a legitimate need for the information.

Without the abilty to access credit reports without the specific pre-authorization of a consumer, consumer business would come to a crawl.

[jason0618]

Right.  I understand how permissible purpose works, but why just randomly pull my credit and not try to collect anything?  And again, why a HP?  I occasionally see AR by Capital One, and once by NFCU.  No Hard pull, and I have a business relationshio with them both.

[pizzadude]

---

@jason0618 wrote:

Right.  I understand how permissible purpose works, but why just randomly pull my credit and not try to collect anything?  And again, why a HP?  I occasionally see AR by Capital One, and once by NFCU.  No Hard pull, and I have a business relationshio with them both.

---

They're probably just snooping around your files, waiting for the right time when they think you'll be motivated to pay them.

Existing creditors won't do a HP for account reviews because they know that it would likely cause an problem with cardmembers.   But most will be happy to pull your credit when you request a CLI or apply for a new account.