I have 3 items on my TU report from CA's who requested my report. They were trying to collect for a debt that was not mine. 2 of them contacted me after getting my credit report and after getting the facts from me they agreed that the debt was not mine as they received inaccurate info from the orig creditor. Question. Can the inquiry be deleted from my report? I did not authorize these CA's to pull my report. Had the debt been mine, they would have had the auth to pull the report.
Thanks Butch, I sent a letter to the CRA and demanded they remove the items. I explained that the CA's were collecting for a debt that was not mine and that THEY (CRA) should NOT have given my report up to unauthorized requester's. THEY should have a way of validating authorization. Lets see what they do. I don't like dealing with CA's for any reason. Calling them will be a last resort. its like dealing with slim. When you do it, you just can not avoid getting slimmy.
Althought "permissibility" is the only thing governing inquiries in the law, I have been researching a theory of mine that "impermissible" inquiries might also be a violation of "assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates." http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm#607 If the inquirie was proven "impermissible", but it was an honest mistkate, like it seem in this case, a consumer reporting agency might face liability if the consumer notifies them of a dispute, including info about the collectors admission of the error, and the dont delete the inquiry Johnon v MBNA might be a good cite for this. Its "basis" is the "reasonable investigation" requirement for the reporting agency AND the collector. Let me know how it goes in the request to get them deleted. I am of the opinion that if there is not a specific statute for something, there may be another one which covers it. IN THEORY
Although sometimes CRAs claim inquiries are "a matter of fact", CRAs have removed inquiries on disputes by consumers. They have also removed them when requested by a OC or CA. CRAs are required to show inquiries to the consumer, under FCRA. There is no requirement that they disclose any of them to other users of the credit report, and in particular, they cannot disclose promotional inquiries to others. I would take the position, that since inquiries are reported to other users of credit reports, who use them to make credit granting decisions, and they are factors in calculating FICO scores, which are also used in making credit granting decisions, the coding of the reason for the inquiry is posting of credit information by the OC or CA, and required to be "accurate". An inquiry has a different meaning to a potential credit grantor if it is from a collection agency. PRM and AR inquiries, not visible to other report users, also clearly have a different effect on decisions from visible inquiries. If an inquiry is without permissible purpose, such as on a closed-end loan, an account was closed with $0 balance, or was made to the wrong consumer's report, whether or not it was negligent or deliberate enough to trigger FCRA penalties, that inquiry should be considered "inaccurate" if it is not coded to indicate "non-permissible purpose", and it is cloaked from all but the consumer. To be accurate, a user of reports requesting one without permissible purpose should notify the CRA that they have no permissible purpose for that inquiry, allowing the CRA to properly code it. The CRA, of course, should then not supply the report, or if it illegally does, it should accurately code the inquiry as without permissible purpose. (Try getting the CRAs to do that.)
Have the CAs agreed in writing that the debt was not yours? Since the CAs agreed that the debt was not yours, have you requested that they tell the CRA to remove the inquiry?
