Sorry to bring up an old question but I've been looking through past threads and I'm getting conflicting answers... Is a hard pull from a CA legal or illegal? It seems (from what I read) that it is legal (they have permissible purpose) if they validate. If they don't validate, then they would have no right to be looking so of course that's illegal... Would appreciate some clarification from one of our many experts...thnx! (I'm hoping someone tells me it's not legal - coz it sure doesn't feel good to have them snooping around accessing private info!)
You bring up a good (legal) question. To be honest, I don't know if this has been "tested" in the courts. The general consensus is that it is permissible for a CA to make a "hard pull", if they can prove they can show they have reason to investigate for collection, so they "should" have to, and be able to, validate the account in question. Practice dictates that if they cannot validate, then the inquiry should be removed.
That being said, is it better to just let it go or to contest it? i.e., should the CA be allowed to pull and I just focus on validation, etc. - or make them show "permissible purpose" (and risk stirring things up)...
Is the debt valid or not? If the debt is not valid then send off the validation letter, and proceed from there. If it is valid, just take care of the obligation.
jlynn is correct, the wording in the FDCPA is "loose" when it comes to this. You best course of action is to dispute.
