If you have an existing loan with a bank, and they do account/loan reviews and pull your credit report, can they pull hard copies? I have 3 hard inquires in about 1 year from a bank we have a loan with. It states on my CR they will remain there for up to 2 years. I called their office and asked what they were for, she wasn't sure, but is looking into it. She said they are more than likely account reviews. She is supposed to call me back shortly. I thought that those needed to be soft reviews? With them being hard, it looks like I am applying for more credit or something which doesn't look good at all.
Unfortunately, FCRA provides them this right to peek into your credit report if you are a current customer, and since FCRA does not distinguish between a hard inquiry and a soft inquiry, you have no recourse Your best bet is to write a goodwill letter to the bank to recode those inquiries as soft instead of hard. Just as a side note: there is an FTC opinion letter that seemed to initially say that if the loan is a closed-end loan (meaning an installment loan, which you pay down regularly at a stated interest rate within a fixed term unlike credit cards which have no stated amount to be paid down nor a stated time to be paid down) -- the creditor DOES NOT have permission to peek at your report. I believe it's the Gowen letter. But I have also seen posts here that the footnote to that letter basically takes that back ... and re-opine that even closed-end creditors may peek at your report Best of luck
