Is consent to obtain your credit report permanent?

[Anonymous]

So I have a credit card with a bank and obviously I consented to them doing a hard inquiry when I opened the card, resulting in a hard inquiry. That was over a year ago now.

Today, I received a notification from multiple sources that I had a new hard inquiry on my TransUnion report, from this same bank. Extremely confused because I hadn't applied anything, I went to contact them about it. I was very concerned because a month ago I had to have my card replaced due to a fraudulent transaction on the card and worried that more than my card details got out there.

After a chat with their represenative, I was told that my credit was reviewed by their high risk team and that my report had been pulled as a result of that, but my card was not flagged and I could use it normally.

My question is: is doing a hard dinquiry out of the blue without any notice or consent on my part even legal? I was under the impression that a bank had to get permission every time they planned to do a hard inquiry. I can't imagine that signing off on a hard inquiry when you open the card provides any kind of permanent consent for as long as you hold an account with that bank, but maybe I'm wrong? This sounds like a horrible relationship to have with a bank if they can just willy nilly pull your credit and throw an inquiry on your report whenever they feel like it.

Do I stand a stand to have the inquiry removed if I dispute it with TransUnion as I did not provide consent?

[pizza1]

Welcome to the forums!

Where did you get your "notification" from?

Sometimes places like CS, or CK will send alerts about a 'HP', when really it was a SP (soft pull). Companies will quite frequently do AR's of an account. My reports are full of SP's from most of my lenders.

[barca]

You can check all your 3 credit report from free annual credit https://www.annualcreditreport.com

i think it is free weekly during COVID-19

[Anonymous]

I received notifications from both American Express and Capital One credit monitoring services, explicitly notifying me that a new credit inquiry appeared on my TransUnion credit report.

Credit Karma has not notified me of it yet. I've found that they actually tend to lag behind a few days for me.

[Anonymous]

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@barca wrote:

You can check all your 3 credit report from free annual credit https://www.annualcreditreport.com

i think it is free weekly during COVID-19

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It is free weekly. I tried doing it for all three. Equifax and Experian were fine, but that bank is listed as a "Regular Inquiry" on my TransUnion report for today.

[RobertEG]

The controlling statute for credit inquiries is FCRA 604, which provides permissible purpose for a creditor to request and receive your credit report for a consumer initiated request for credit without need for additional, explicit consent of the consumer.

The issue is thus how long that period of permissible purpose extends,

Neither the statute per se nor any subsequent regulations or case law establishes any clear period after the request for credit within which the permissible purpose terminates.  It is thus subject to a "reasonableness" legal standard of interpretation of the meaning of the statute.

It would not be unreasonable for the permissible purpose to extend a few days, or even a couple of weeks, from the initiation of the request by the consumer, but it would arguably be unreasonable for the period to extend for months, or in the posted scenario, a year.

It would thus be a reasonable interpretation of the permissible purpose grant under section 604 that the permissible purpose would not extend for a year from date of an initiation of request.

You would, in my opinion, have basis for a dispute of the inquiry based on lack of a permissible purpose, and thus no basis for any inquiry under section 604.

[Anonymous]

I would contact the bank and see what the issue is and why they placed a hard inquiry on your report.  You did not apply for [additional] credit with them.  I would dispute the inquiry.  Good post from Robert above as well.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would contact the bank and see what the issue is and why they placed a hard inquiry on your report.  You did not apply for [additional] credit with them.  I would dispute the inquiry.  Good post from Robert above as well.

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I already did that when I was first alerted. They told me it was pulled by their high risk team in reviewing my account.

Based on that coupled with TransUnion's own terminology for inquiries (Regular or "hard" inquiries, Promotional inquiries, and Account Review or "soft" inquiries) I am planning to submit a dispute to TransUnion arguing that this was an inappropriate and unauthorized use of a Regular Inquiry. By the bank's own admission, the inquiry was used for the sole purpose of reviewing my existing account and should have been an Account Review Inquiry.

Pulling the TransUnion report really helps there because I was not aware of the specific terminologies of the different inquiry types before, and knowing those really strengthens the case for them having used the wrong inquiry type.

[coldfusion]

Starting off by filing a dispute with the CRA is not the best approach.    The problem here is with a hard pull being performed without proper cause, not fraud.

You've already confirmed that the bank in fact did perform a hard pull and received an explanation as to why.

Next step should be to send the bank a letter CMRR (Certified Mail Return Receipt) that they performed a hard pull on <date> from Transunion along with your commentary, noting that they performed a hard pull without permissible purpose and you want the hard pull withdrawn, along with a confirmation in writing back from them within 10 business days that they have submitted the request for withdrawal.   

If you don't hear back from them within the 10 business days or if they respond with a refusal to request a withdrawal, file an online complaint directly with the FDIC that they performed a hard pull without permissible purpose.  Don't bother with the CFPB as this is not within their scope.      The bank will respond to the FDIC who will then follow up with you; the bank may also contact you directly.

Keep in mind that a CRA has 30 days to complete a withdrawal that is submitted by the entity that originally made the hard pull.

[Anonymous]

Great info and advice above.