Charge Off makes a reappearance :(

[coldfusion]

You neglected to include section 3 of 1681b.   Keep in mind that in the US the legal definition of a person also includes businesses and corporations, as they are entities that can sue and be sued.

(a) In general

Subject to subsection (c), any consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other:

You already commented on (1) and (2).  subsection (c) referenced above stipulates the conditions under which a credit report can be legally pulled without prior consent of the consumer

(3) To a person which it has reason to believe—

(A)

intends to use the information in connection with a credit transaction involving the consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumer; or

(B)

intends to use the information for employment purposes; or

(C)

intends to use the information in connection with the underwriting of insurance involving the consumer; or

(D)

intends to use the information in connection with a determination of the consumer’s eligibility for a license or other benefit granted by a governmental instrumentality required by law to consider an applicant’s financial responsibility or status; or

(E)

intends to use the information, as a potential investor or servicer, or current insurer, in connection with a valuation of, or an assessment of the credit or prepayment risks associated with, an existing credit obligation; or

(F) otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information—

(i)

in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer; or

(ii)

to review an account to determine whether the consumer continues to meet the terms of the account.

[House2021]

By the way if you did file a BBB complaint it is very quick to do and gets the quickest results,  ore so than paying the bill, I filed a BBB and the item was deleted within a week for one credit union , for one I filed against a collection agency it was deleted within 24 hours.