info@carolinalaw.com
info@carolinalaw.com
Have you ever found an inquiry you did not authorize on your credit report? Unauthorized credit pulls can lead to a decrease in your credit score and expose personal information. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) grants you specific rights to protect your financial information from unauthorized access and misuse. These rights empower you to challenge inaccuracies, seek damages for violations, and ensure that your credit history remains secure and private. Understanding these protections is crucial for maintaining financial integrity and preventing identity theft.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) plays a crucial role in protecting consumers’ rights regarding their credit information. Unauthorized credit pulls occur when an entity checks your credit report without your consent, which can happen in various situations, such as when a lender reviews your credit before extending an offer or when a retailer checks your credit to approve a financing option for a purchase. Under the FCRA, you have the right to dispute unauthorized inquiries with credit reporting agencies and request their removal from your report. These unauthorized inquiries can adversely affect your credit score, as lenders may perceive them as a sign of increased risk.
Once identified, the FCRA allows individuals to take legal action against unauthorized credit inquiries. You may pursue compensation for the damages the violations have caused. For that reason, it is essential to monitor your credit regularly and report any discrepancies promptly.
Your credit report will list the names of all credit pulls and the parties who have obtained a copy of your credit report information. As these credit reports contain valuable private information, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that parties can only use, obtain, or examine your credit report for a permissible purpose. You would be shocked at how much information someone can learn about you and your family by accessing your credit report. This is why there are laws in place to allow you to protect yourself if someone pulls your credit without permission. Our firm recently resolved a matter for $125,000.00 on behalf of a couple who had their credit pulled for an impermissible purpose by a large auto company.
Not everyone can access your credit report freely—strict FCRA guidelines mandate when and why your credit can be pulled. These are permissible purposes, ensuring that your financial data is only accessed for legitimate reasons. The most common permissible purpose is that the business intends to use the information in connection with a credit transaction.
Additionally, a company or individual may obtain your credit report if:
However, if your credit report has been accessed without a valid reason, that could violate your rights. Unauthorized credit inquiries can impact your score and lead to privacy breaches.
Not all credit inquiries affect your credit score the same way. There are two types of credit checks—”soft pulls” and “hard pulls”—and ensuring these pulls aren’t negatively affecting your financial health is essential. Soft pulls are routine checks that don’t affect your credit score, such as checking your own report. A hard pull can lower your credit score, especially if multiple occur in a short time. They happen when you apply for a new loan, credit card, or mortgage or when a landlord checks your credit for lease approval.
Entities occasionally do a soft pull or a hard pull of your credit information without a permissible purpose. For example, it is common for spouses in divorce cases to attempt to use credit pulls to obtain consumer information about their ex. Private investigators utilize their contacts at businesses that can get credit information where the company lacks the requisite controls to ensure the consumer report generated is for a real customer. This is NOT a permissible purpose under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Other than in connection with the collection of an account, you cannot pull a credit report in connection with civil litigation, including family court cases. Similarly, insurance companies can pull your records when deciding if you are eligible for their product. What they cannot do is pull your consumer report when evaluating a claim for benefits.
We might be able to assist you if we can find companies conducting credit pulls without a valid business reason. Keep a copy of the credit report that shows the unauthorized access to your information. Businesses and individuals should not have access to your private information without a legitimate reason. Reach out to us if you think you’re facing such an issue. Initial consultations regarding Fair Credit Reporting Act claims are complimentary. If we decide to take your case, we typically do so on a contingency basis. That means you don’t owe any fees unless you recover money from the party that violated your consumer rights. We proudly serve clients throughout the Carolinas from our offices in Charlotte, Fayetteville, and Raleigh.
