CA made 3 Hard Inquiries in a single day! Legal?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

A CA sent me a letter on 1/22/09 attempting to collect a very small (~$100) unpaid debt from an apartment complex that I lived in last year.

I called the complex, and they said that they completely turned my debt over to the CA.

So I sent the CA a DV letter on 2/6/09 (CMRRR) and I haven't heard a thing from them.

But...I checked my credit report and my score dropped 20+ points because the CA made 3 hard inquiries on my TransUnion report, all 3 were recorded on the same day, 1/22/09.

Is it legal for them to post 3 hard inquiries, all on the same day?

[Junejer]

Hi Jeff. IMO, they do not have PP to pull a hard INQ on your reports, let alone three in a day. If I were you, I would do a search for a non PP letter on these forums. There's a nice letter out there. GL

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input, Byrdman.  I couldn't believe that they would generate 3 hard inquiries in 1 day, especially for such a tiny amount of $$ that I owe.  I'm guessing it was prob. an administrative mistake on their part, but who knows...

I'll send the non-PP letter tomorrow.

Has anyone actually experienced multiple hard inquiries from a CA in 1 day?

[haulingthescoreup]

I doubt that it's a mistake. I think it's a means of getting your attention.

3X/ day though, that's pretty brazen.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

A CA sent me a letter on 1/22/09 attempting to collect a very small (~$100) unpaid debt from an apartment complex that I lived in last year.

I called the complex, and they said that they completely turned my debt over to the CA.

So I sent the CA a DV letter on 2/6/09 (CMRRR) and I haven't heard a thing from them.

But...I checked my credit report and my score dropped 20+ points because the CA made 3 hard inquiries on my TransUnion report, all 3 were recorded on the same day, 1/22/09.

Is it legal for them to post 3 hard inquiries, all on the same day?

---

There PP does allow for it....I don't know about if there is a limit.  I do know that they use your credit report to gauge how likely you are to pay.  The better the score the better the odds you'll pay.

[Anonymous]

Actually they are not authorized to do this unless you fail to respond to them in the timeframe required to challenge the validity of the debt. So what they did was wrong and illegal. You need to send them that letter and I believe this was one that I saw a while back that I liked:

Company Name

Address

City, State, ZIP

 
To Whom It May Concern:
 
I have noticed that you have placed one or more inquiries on my credit file(s). As you probably know, Credit Reporting Agencies treat inquiries as a statement of fact and will not allow a consumer to dispute them. Since it is against federal law (Fair Credit Reporting Act -- 15 USC § 1681n(a)(1)(B) for an entity to view a consumer’s credit report without a "permissible purpose," I am writing to inquire as to your alleged purpose for doing so since I did not apply for employment with your organization nor did I request credit from your organization.

Based on the evidence in my possession, this inquiry was performed under false pretenses as described in the clear language of the law. 15 USC §1681n(a)(1)(B ) states, in part, "in the case of liability of a natural person for obtaining a consumer report under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose, actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure or $1,000, whichever is greater;"
 
You are civilly liable to me in the amount of <insert # of viols x 1k> for your willful violation of the law -- performing a "hard inquiry" on my credit file(s) without my permission. I do hope that we can settle this matter amicably. You can remove the inquiry within one (1) business day of the receipt of this notice. Or, we can meet in court where you will end up removing the inquiry, paying me the civil liability fine, punitive damages for my score drop, plus court and attorney fees. The choice is up to you.

Please contact me immediately at the address listed below

you can additionally include the date of your communication telling them to edited: (go away) and also a copy of it maybe to go along with this. Good luck.

ADD: By no means a complete and perfect letter but pretty solid and you just need to trim and mod to taste and circumstance.

Message Edited by Guardian on 02-23-2009 01:36 AM

edited to clean up the language a bit --hauling

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-23-2009 04:29 AM

[Anonymous]

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edited to clean up the language a bit --hauling

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-23-2009 04:29 AM

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I think I like the unedited version better...

[Anonymous]

No fair, the rest of us are left out.

unless it was directed to my post and then you can just send it via PM

[Anonymous]

Guardian, thank you for adding that info.

The CA has made these 3 hard inquiries, and you said that "they are not authorized to do this unless you fail to respond to them in the timeframe required to challenge the validity of the debt."  But, I do believe (and I could be wrong) that a CA has PP to pull my report to facilitate collection.

So I'm now wondering:

• is it legal for the CA to make a hard inquiry (3 hards) before answering my DV letter? If so, where is this stated in the law?
• Is it worth hiring a lawyer to help me with this?

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Guardian, thank you for adding that info.

The CA has made these 3 hard inquiries, and you said that "they are not authorized to do this unless you fail to respond to them in the timeframe required to challenge the validity of the debt."  But, I do believe (and I could be wrong) that a CA has PP to pull my report to facilitate collection.

So I'm now wondering:

• is it legal for the CA to make a hard inquiry (3 hards) before answering my DV letter? If so, where is this stated in the law?
• Is it worth hiring a lawyer to help me with this?

---

Well let me clarify what I said because I know it seems to be a statement in conflict but what I meant (next time I promise to do it after having my coffee) is that in order for them to report anything derog which a hard inquiry from a collection agency would qualify as a derog (but depending on the jurisdictional interpretation), they need to contact you and allow you under FDCPA to challenge, affirm or whatever the debt before they can report it and it would be at that time that they can do inquiry to evaluate your worthiness for any further collection efforts. At least that is my understanding of the letter of the law on this matter (which is subject to interpretation on varied grounds), I could be wrong, it happens But to turn the loopholes in the law against them like they do to us, you could interpret this in that manner. Nothing to lose, give it a shot.