What constitutes permissable purpose for a soft inquiry?

[credit99]

Hello Everyone!  I have learned so many new things here and all your posts have been extremely helpful to me. Quick question.  Is it legal for a hospital to do a soft pull of your credit report if you slipped on oil in their cafeteria and were injured?  This is really bothering me.  My son was having surgery at Duke University Medical Center and I slipped in the cafeteria on oil that had spilled and had not been cleaned up.  I ended up dislocating my knee and tearing ligaments.  A security officer came and collected all my info (including my SSN#) and I was in so much pain I gave it to him. They then rolled me off to the emergency room for treatment.  Needless to say I paid for the emergency service I received from them but I am very unhappy they had the nerve to pull my credit report.  Is this normal?

Message Edited by credit99 on 06-13-2008 07:26 PM

[aftermath]

They were probably preparing to get sued by you. They most likely checked your credit to get a feel for who you are (lots of lates = irresponsible), and use a bad credit report to use against you in court to discredit your testimony. Just my theory.

[credit99]

Hi - Thanks for your reply.  My credit is pretty decent and I don't have any lates.  I did not sue them and I paid them everything I owed for my emergency room visit and my son's surgery.  So does this mean they had a permissable purpose to pull it as I certainly didn't authorize them to do so?

[Anonymous]

credit99 -

Did they do a pull before or after you paid your bill?

[credit99]

Before I paid the bills.  They are slow to bill there.  Didn't get the bills until January.  They pulled it on the day after I was injured.

[Anonymous]

It certainly sounds unusual. I am not sure if it is legal, but I presume because they did provide a service without immediate payment that they can get away with it. Since it is only a soft it is not something to dispute, but I do think it was nerve-y on their part. I am sorry you had that happen to you. You could call in and ask for an explanation - especially considering they are lucky you didn't sue.

[Anonymous]

Soft pulls do not count against you at all.

[aftermath]

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@credit99 wrote:

Hi - Thanks for your reply. My credit is pretty decent and I don't have any lates. I did not sue them and I paid them everything I owed for my emergency room visit and my son's surgery. So does this mean they had a permissable purpose to pull it as I certainly didn't authorize them to do so?

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You should really consider contacting an attorney and sue them. If you slipped and fell on a spill on their premises and sustained injuries, they are liable to cover all costs of injuries occurred due to the mishap.

Hey you never know, maybe you can settle outside of court, and even have them cover the costs for your sons surgery.

Flex your legal rights.

[Anonymous]

There is no PP for soft pulls...in that case...OPT OUT...and they should not be able to do this...now if it was a hard pull...then you should worry...

[BungalowMo]

Dang!!  If that happened to me & they had the nerve to send ME the bill...I'd have been on their doorstep letting them know what's ahead if they didn't make that bill disappear!

That takes BRASS ones...for sure! 

If someone was injured on MY property, I'm liable for their medical bills...that's why I have homeowners Ins.  You are injured on their property...it's their place to pay.  No matter where you live.

*I am now climbing down from my soapbox.....