How to have inquiries removed, is it impossible?

[Anonymous]

I tried to dispute an inquiry which I did not make, it was made online. The CB stated that they could not remove it, but I had to contact the company itself, in order to have it removed..Is that so?? If so, is there a certain letter I have to write to the company for them to remove it?

[llecs]

Search in here and you'll find a "non-PP" letter. It stand for non-permissible purpose and requests non-invited submitters of inquiries to go away and to take the inquiry with them. If there is a mystery inquiry, you may want to consider a fraud alert. If someone has your info, it can happen again.

[RobertEG]

The CRA is essentially correct.

Inquiries are regulated under FCRA 607.  Basically, it is a seft-certifying process.  When a party requests a copy of your CR, they must identify themselves and certify a legtimate purpose for the inquiry.  Under FCRA 604(f)(2), the inquiree must provide a "general or specific certification," whatever that means.

CRAs are reqyured to maintain "reasonable procedures" to ensure that CRs are only supplied for one or more of the permissible purposes set forth in FCRA 604.  That is just about as specific as the FCRA gets regarding legitimacy of credit inquiries.

If you dispute, you are restricted to filing your disptue throught the CRA.  Disputes relating to CR inquiries are specifically excluded from the direct dispute process under FCRA 623(a)(8),  See 16 CFR 660.4(b)(iii).

[John060675]

I am going through this with Comcast right now.  There is an inquiry that I never made, and I tried to dispute through Equifax with no luck.  They came back with it being a "matter of fact".  So then I call Comcast and told them the issue.  They show no record of them ever pulling my report and stated that it should not have been pulled.  They then said I should dispute it with the CRA. I told them that I did and that it came back verified, and at that point they stated that it should not have.

It is funny.  Equifax tells me it is a "matter of fact" and I have to contact the company, and the company states that I need to contact Equifax. It seems to be a never ending circle.   I am going through day 3 of this with Comcast, so we will see if I have any luck today.  They keep escalating the issue up the chain.

By the way, I know one inquiry means little but it is just the principal.

[DI]

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@John060675 wrote:

I am going through this with Comcast right now.  There is an inquiry that I never made, and I tried to dispute through Equifax with no luck.  They came back with it being a "matter of fact".  So then I call Comcast and told them the issue.  They show no record of them ever pulling my report and stated that it should not have been pulled.  They then said I should dispute it with the CRA. I told them that I did and that it came back verified, and at that point they stated that it should not have.

It is funny.  Equifax tells me it is a "matter of fact" and I have to contact the company, and the company states that I need to contact Equifax. It seems to be a never ending circle.   I am going through day 3 of this with Comcast, so we will see if I have any luck today.  They keep escalating the issue up the chain.

By the way, I know one inquiry means little but it is just the principal.

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When they start giving having you going in circles, you have to file a complaint with the BBB, so that it can get to the higher ups.  File the complaint against Comcast. 

[John060675]

DI,

Thank you for the information.  I just did an online complaint through the BBB, so we will see.  I am sure this will drag on for months, and it will naturally fall off by the time they respond.  But at least I am taking action on something that should not have been done.

[RobertEG]

The CRA position is totally untenbable.  Having contacted the creditor, and being informed that they never made any such credit inquiry, it is impossible for the creditor to then report deletion of information from your CR that they never reported. 

If you disputed the inquiry through the CRA, they were required to forward your dispute to the creditor.  FCRA 611(a)(1).and FCRA 623(b)(1).  If the creditor reported back to them that they never reported such an inquiry, the CRA is then REQUIRED under FCRA 623(b)(1)(E) to delete the unverified information.  That is not discretionary on the part of the CRA.

The CRA is, in my opinion, blatantly violating FCRA 623(b)(1)(E), and is thus subject to civil action.

I would send the CRA a renewed dispute, including the additional information provided by the creditor that they never made the disptuted inquiry.  That is a new dispute with additional information, and the CRA must reinvestigate it.

[John060675]

Well, just an update on the illegal inquiry from Comcast.  After I did a complaint through the BBB, Comcast called me to see what was going on.  After several phone calls and lots of waiting, they finally removed the inquiry.  They still have no idea why my credit was pulled, but I really do not care at this point.  The inquiry is removed, and that is all I care about.

Thank you all for your help.

[Anonymous]

I am in a very similar situation. The phone company pulled my report without authorization. They agreed to delete all 3 unauthorized inquiries, trouble is they only removed 1. I sent the letter to the credit bureau, faxed the credit bureau, called the credit bureau, they transferred me to the fraud department, and they still have not deleted the other two inquiries. I was n the phone with the credit bureau for over an hour! Now I have to call the phone company back, and start this all over again. I am beyond angry at the moment. 

[RobertEG]

The only statutory requirement on a CRA when providing a CR in response to an inquiry is that the requestor must provide a statement, as set forth under FCRA 604(f),  of a permissible purpose under one or more of the provisions of FCRA 604.  That is self-certifying, and as long as the requestor asserts a permissible purpose, the CRA provides a copy of the consumer's credit report.  They dont conduct an investigation.

The CRA is, in essence, telling you that the requestor provided a certification of a permissible purpose to them, and that the furnisher is responsible for the accuracy of that statement, not the CRA.  As long as the CRA has such a statement in their files, they will accept its accuracy, and blow off a dispute over permissible purpose.

You can, if so inclined, require the CRA to send you a copy of the asserted permissible purpose provided by the requestor by sending them a request under FCRA 609(a)(1), accopanied by proof of your identity, and the required processing fee, which is currently $11.00.

So, based on that process, it is extremely difficult to prevail in a dispute over credit report inquiries via the CRA dispute process.  And by the time you go to all that time and trouble, one year has most likley passed, and the inquiry is no longer being scored by FICO.

You cannot use the alernative direct dispute process to dispute credit inquiries directly with the requestor.  The implementing rules for the direct dispute process specifically exempt any dispute relating to credit inquiries from the process.  16 CFR 660.4((b)(1)(iii).

Most issues over inquiries are handled informally via calls to the requestor.