For those interested in the nuts and bolts of why a bank opening a deposit account has PP despite the fact that you are not applying for credit, see the FTC Gowen letter here:
It's a common misconception that you need to be applying for credit or insurance in order for someone to pull hard inquiry, but FCRA 604(a)(3)(F)(i) seems to grant quite a lot of leeway to those pulling reports for other purposes.
Specifically it says that permissible purpose exists when the entity pulling the report "has a legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction initiated by the consumer."
That's a pretty broad definition.
Message Edited by cheddar on
03-28-2008 10:39 PM