Question about soft pulls and collection

[Anonymous]

I have 2, maybe 3 questions.

I recently pulled all 3 credit reports to look for a few things I had been worried about.

A collection that i did PFD with is still reporting 2 weeks later, which is FINE because im hoping A) itll be removed soon since the letter says 30-45 days and B) I have a letter where the agency agreed to remove the collection and such. That is the first thing that led to me checking my reports.

However, upon doing so I came across the soft pulls section and noticed a few things I dont understand.

1st thing: On April 28th, T-Mobile was soft pulling me. I have no clue why, because I've never had an account with them. Ever. Which brings me to the first question: Why would they be soft pulling my credit report? Im happily with Verizon, and I've had Sprint/ATT before but not T-mobile, so that worried me.

2nd Thing: On January 6th, a collection agency was soft pulling me. Now, the website said it was for phone service, utilities and cable and such. Im almost positive this was for ATT, because I owed them $400 but I paid the $400 on January 12th, having been told by an ATT rep that my account was BEING sent to collections at the time. I hadnt realized I owed them money, so I took care of paying the balance to $0. I was told by the rep that the account was closed and would only hear from them again if the payment didnt clear, which it did. So the question is, if I havent heard from the collection agency by now, am I ok? Theres nothing on my report from the company, and it was only Transunion pulled for both of the soft pulls (collection and tmobile).

3rd thing: On another board, I asked if the CRA's can ignore a collection agencies request for an account to be removed and deleted. i was answered but kind of ignored at the same time. Im still trying to figure this out. I had no prior knowledge of a medical collection that I apparently had, because I had been told by a CSR that my bills were waived due to no income at the time. But then it showed up on my report April of 2015, and when I called the hospital I was told to dispute it and it would get removed. I disputed it and forgot about it until December, when I started properly monitoring my credit. I figured out that it was still on my report and had been verified. I wasnt able to do anything about it at the time because I was moving. But on April 18th, 2016, I called and negotiated a PFD. I paid the account in full and on May 19th, received a letter stating the agency had requested the account to be removed from all 3 CRA's. Now, as it is still on my report, I imagine things are just slow going. But I am wondering, can the CRA's ignore the request for removal? Or overlook it I should say? I was told I could dispute the account again due to having the document stating that it is supposed to be removed, and because I was originally told the account shouldve been paid for before even going to collections. The account is PIF now and closed, but I am awaiting its removal and wondering what I need to do and how I can proceed.

This is the only bad thing on my report, and after it is removed I can finally get a new car and begin working towards a mortgage.

I appreciate any help, as I am totally lost.

[RobertEG]

As for the inquiries, the party must have one or more of the permissible purposes listed under FCRA 604 in order to pull your credit report.

A debt collector only retains permissible purpose while their collection authority is active.  Once the debt is paid, they no longer have any authority to collect on a debt, and thus no longer have permissible purpose.

As for a T-mobile, if you dont currently have an account with them and have not initiated any business transactions with them, they do not have a permissible purpose under any provision of FCRA 604. 

As for removal of the collection based on having paid the debt, that is contrary to CRA reporting policy, as set forth in their credit reporting manual.

The CRA can, if they have reason to believe that any reporting is not in compliance with their clear and agreed reporting policy, question a furnisher regarding their reporting.

Notifying a CRA that a debt collector is agreeing to deletion based on payment of a debt could trigger CRA questioning of that practice.

You are likely not receiving clear answers to that question, as the answer rests only with the CRA.

It is entiery up to the CRA as to how they police their reporting policies, as deletion based on payment of a debt is not contrary to any provision of the FCRA.

[RonM21]

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@RobertEG wrote:

As for the inquiries, the party must have one or more of the permissible purposes listed under FCRA 604 in order to pull your credit report.

A debt collector only retains permissible purpose while their collection authority is active.  Once the debt is paid, they no longer have any authority to collect on a debt, and thus no longer have permissible purpose.

As for a T-mobile, if you dont currently have an account with them and have not initiated any business transactions with them, they do not have a permissible purpose under any provision of FCRA 604. 

As for removal of the collection based on having paid the debt, that is contrary to CRA reporting policy, as set forth in their credit reporting manual.

The CRA can, if they have reason to believe that any reporting is not in compliance with their clear and agreed reporting policy, question a furnisher regarding their reporting.

Notifying a CRA that a debt collector is agreeing to deletion based on payment of a debt could trigger CRA questioning of that practice.

You are likely not receiving clear answers to that question, as the answer rests only with the CRA.

It is entiery up to the CRA as to how they police their reporting policies, as deletion based on payment of a debt is not contrary to any provision of the FCRA.

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Robert, this is interesting to me.  I always see random lenders showing up as soft pulls and usually it's related to someone that ends up sending offers in the mail, etc.  Obviously, someone I never gave permission to. 

[RobertEG]

Giving permission is not a requiremnt of the FCRA if the party has permisible purpose, meaning they have a purpose listed under FCRA 604.

Unsolicited offers for credit where the creditor has received your name via a listing provided by a CRA is required under FCRA 605(c) to be codes as sott.

The offer for credit will include a statement that your name was obtained from a listing provided by a CRA.

Those promotional offers for credit are the only type of inquiry that is mandated under the FCRA to be coded as soft.

Other soft pulls will still have a permissible purpose, and could have been coded as hard.

A business transaction that is intitiated by a consumer for which the business can assert a reasonble basis for reviewing the consumer's credit report as part of the transaction is an explicit permissible purpose under FCRA 604, and does not requrire any specific authorization or approval of the consumer.  How or when the inquriy can be coded as soft as opposed to hard is not regulated by the FCRA or described procedurally in the CRA reporting manual, as it is not credit reporting.