Can lender find your income in a hard or soft pull?

[Anonymous]

I  have been prescribed one of the new medicines that will cost over $1,000/ month. AT the bottom of the TV ads it says that if you can't afford the medicine you can apply and it may be free.

I am filling out the form and it says the can run a "consumer report" on me. It also asks for my income. When I called them they said a consumer report was a credit report and they may run it to see if my claimed income is more than X% different than claimed I will have to verify my income. They said a soft pull would be made to find my income.

Is income disclosed in a hard or soft pull? What would be the source of this information?

What would be the source of this information?

Thanks

[DollyLama]

Please talk to your doctor or pharmacist who can help you. This sounds like a scam to me for identity theft. 

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I  have been prescribed one of the new medicines that will cost over $1,000/ month. AT the bottom of the TV ads it says that if you can't afford the medicine you can apply and it may be free.

I am filling out the form and it says the can run a "consumer report" on me. It also asks for my income. When I called them they said a consumer report was a credit report and they may run it to see if my claimed income is more than X% different than claimed I will have to verify my income. They said a soft pull would be made to find my income.

Is income disclosed in a hard or soft pull? What would be the source of this information?

What would be the source of this information?

Thanks

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If it is the directions for one of the major pharmaceuticle adds like those on tv for astre zeneca...an add for the drug itself where they go over all these side effects and such and the end say if you can't afford we can help...then it is legit. Income is not included in a credit report,but if there is excessive spending reflected on a continuous basis that is not likely possible on your low reported income it can be gleaned from a CR. What they are trying to determine is that your income is not higher than the maximum allowed for your family size which is usually quite high.

[Anonymous]

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@sarge12 wrote:

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Income is not included in a credit report, but if there is excessive spending reflected on a continuous basis that is not likely possible on your low reported income it can be gleaned from a CR. What they are trying to determine is that your income is not higher than the maximum allowed for your family size which is usually quite high.

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Sarge is thinking of the "big three" credit reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion.  There are many other credit bureaus, however, that collect data on consumers.  Here is a fairly complete list of them (though not entirely complete):

https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-reporting-companies-lis...

You'll see that there is a whole bunch of them that collect data related to employment.  One of the most commonly used one is called The Work Number:

The Work Number
Provides employment and income information. It includes data collected from employers and large private sector payroll processors.

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

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Income is not included in a credit report, but if there is excessive spending reflected on a continuous basis that is not likely possible on your low reported income it can be gleaned from a CR. What they are trying to determine is that your income is not higher than the maximum allowed for your family size which is usually quite high.

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Sarge is thinking of the "big three" credit reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion.  There are many other credit bureaus, however, that collect data on consumers.  Here is a fairly complete list of them (though not entirely complete):

https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-reporting-companies-list.pdf

You'll see that there is a whole bunch of them that collect data related to employment.  One of the most commonly used one is called The Work Number:

The Work Number
Provides employment and income information. It includes data collected from employers and large private sector payroll processors.

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I learn something new everyday...I thought credit reports were not allowed to have income info by law. Perhaps these other reports are not allowed to be used in credit scores, which allows the income info for means testing, which is the purpose of drug manufacturers checking to be sure you qualify for their aid in getting your prescription filled free.

[Thomas_Thumb]

The Work Number is part of the Equifax family. It is used by some prospective employers and apparently banks. As I recall, the prospective employer must get your consent to pull a report. Of course, if you do not give consent you could be self selecting yourself out of the running.

I requested a report last year and they sent me a hard copy. There was salary information but, only from employers that are members of the work number network. The report had some inaccuracies. No salary info in my file more recent than 10 years ago. My more recent employers have been small to mid size privately owned companies.

Pasted below is a picture of the cover letter they provided. [the report was free]

[MakingProgress]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

The Work Number is part of the Equifax family. It is used by some prospective employers and apparently banks. As I recall, the prospective employer must get your consent to pull a report. Of course, if you do not give consent you could be self selecting yourself out of the running.

I requested a report last year and they sent me a hard copy. There was salary information but, only from employers that are members of the work number network. The report had some inaccuracies. No salary info in my file more recent than 10 years ago. My more recent employers have been small to mid size privately owned companies.

Pasted below is a picture of the cover letter they provided. [the report was free]

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At lease in the past, not sure about now, you had to request a one time code from theworknumber and give it to whomever for them to get income verification.