If a Florida business performs a hard credit inquiry on you without your permission in violation of the FCRA, you should speak with a lawyer who is familiar with the FCRA. As an FRCA attorney, Joseph Mack can help you craft a dispute letter that will get the unauthorized hard credit inquiry removed or, if it is not removed, represent you in a lawsuit seeking damages and the removal of the unauthorized hard credit inquiry. Under the FCRA, a prevailing plaintiff is entitled to seek to force the defendants to pay their reasonable attorneys’ fees under a “fee-shifting” statute, which means that Joseph Mack is able to represent his clients without needing to charge them.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”) places limits on the ability of a business to perform a hard credit inquiry without your approval. Under 15 U.S.C.A. § 1681b(a), there are only certain situations where a business can perform a hard credit inquiry without your specific permission, and those situations almost always require some level of approval/consent by you anyway. Those situations are as follows:

(A) if the business “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” – this means that you’ve applied for credit from the business or have already done so and the business is reviewing or preparing to collect on credit extended to you;

(B) “for employment purposes” – this means you’re applying for a job with the business that is pulling your credit;

(C) “in connection with the underwriting of insurance involving the consumer” – this means that you’ve sought to obtain insurance from the business;

(D) “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” – this would be a very narrow set of circumstances involving licenses;

(E) use “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” – meaning a new potential servicer or purchaser of your already-existing credit obligation; or

(F) if the business “otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information [ ] in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer [or] to review an account to determine whether the consumer continues to meet the terms of the account” – this means that a business can pull your credit if you have initiated a deal with the business or have an existing transaction with the business and the business is reviewing whether you meet the requirements of the existing credit agreement.

If a business performs a hard credit inquiry on you without your permission in violation of the FCRA, you should speak with a lawyer who is familiar with the FCRA. As an FRCA attorney, Joseph Mack can help you craft a dispute letter that will get the unauthorized hard credit inquiry removed or, if it is not removed, represent you in a lawsuit seeking damages and the removal of the unauthorized hard credit inquiry. Under the FCRA, a prevailing plaintiff is entitled to seek to force the defendants to pay their reasonable attorneys’ fees under a “fee-shifting” statute, which means that Joseph Mack is able to represent his clients without needing to charge them.