Has a Maryland business performed a hard credit pull on you without your permission?  A hard credit inquiry generally damages your credit score and, if performed without a permissible purpose, may provide you a cause of action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  For a no-cost consultation with an attorney who has successfully had unauthorized hard credit pulls removed from credit reports and recovered for his clients, all without needing to charge his clients, please fill out the contact form below.

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.