Who can do a soft pull on a personâ??s credit report? I was told by Transunion that once a Collections agency has a persons account they can do a soft pull on that persons credit report forever and to me this does not seem correct. Arrow Financial had 3 of my Credit card accounts in 2005, I filed bankruptcy on 10-15-2005 and just now Arrow is starting to do Soft pulls on my credit report ( no Hardâ??s, just softâ??s ) after 2 years. They know I filed BK, I have called them and also sent they letters and also Faxed them so they are well aware of my BK on these accounts. I called arrow and was told by them that they only did this once in 2005 before I filed BK in 2005 but I know this is a lie because itâ??s on my credit report showing they did it 1 time in 10-2007, 2 times in 12-2007 and 2 times in 1-2008 then they lied again and told me that they couldnâ??t stop it, Transunion was making a mistake on my credit report they werenâ??t looking at it and transunion needs to stop it. What a bunch of lies. So I call Transunion, and after getting 3 people on the phone before I could finally get a person that could speak English, when I asked them where they were located at, they would not tell me, but it must have been India, They told me that once a Collections agency gets one of your accounts they can do a soft pull on your credit report forever even if you did file bankruptcy on the accounts in question and there is no way you can stop them if they donâ??t want to stop. I then asked Transunion what is the reason they are giving you that is entitling they to be doing a soft pull on my credit report, and was told we are not allow to tell you that. I have never received any paperwork from arrow since my bk filing in 2005 and I know that these soft pulls are not seen by anyone but myself but why in the world would they even be wasting their time, I donâ??t have any bad account since my BK but I would just love for arrow to try and start collecting on these 3 accounts that was discharged in my bankruptcy. Has anyone out there had this happen to them and are they within the guidelines of the law, Iâ??ve love to nail them on something.
The short answer is anyone can do a pull; until they are challenged and must provide evidence of a "permissible purpose". A collection agency may do pulls to see if you have any transactions pending (i.e mortgage, equity loan, etc.) that they could "leverage" to collect upon. Now, a CA's permissible purpose is stated as "Collections Review", so it is a very loose "purpose". Your best bet is to write and request the "permissible purpose" of their inquiry. The other part of this is that you truly have very little legal recourse, as a soft pull really does no "damages", and you would have a difficuly case.
I can't understand why that would be any of their business when I had my accounts with them discharged in Chapter #7 No-assets Bankruptcy on 5-19-2006 almost 2yrs ago and they were listed on the bk paperwork, I'm just hoping that their going to try and collect on those accounts. That would make my day.
The FCRA does not differentiate between a "hard" and a "soft". "Hard" and "soft" pulls are a FICO beast. I agree with you that a CA or anyone else for that matter must have a PP as enumerated in section 604. However, just because a JDB purchases a debt or a CA gets a call to collect, they must be able to back their claim with solid evidence. I had a large CA pull my CR several times over the course of several months. I wrote asking why, they said it was for the collection of an account. I DV'd them. Their response was "we sent it back". OK, but if you cannot validate/verify the debt you cannot pull. I get a call from their corporate law firm. The crux of the conversation was if you cannot prove you have the right to collect, you have no right under 604 to pull. Even though there is no case law that I am aware of, they paid me and have paid me two more times since. In this instant case, the OP has a cause of action under both section 604 and it violates the automatic stay.
You're speaking loosely right? Isn't that converted to a permanent injunction by the BK discharge? Yes, I'm busting on you for this, but remember people (not necessarily the OP) are going to use anything we say as search terms. I've vowed to make my language on this stuff as precise as possible. Anyway, I wonder how seriously a BK court would take this sort of peeking ... they're softs, any marketer gets to look if they drop a quarter in the slot ... where are the damages until they send a demand or pop a reaged TL marked other than IIB on the report? P.S. -- If the JDB is misusing marketing criteria to do these pulls, opting out would plug this peephole and they'd either have to use their creditor status to pull A/R softs or they'd have to use a priority pull to pull a hard ... and the hard pull would definitely entitle the OP to damages, no trip to BK court necessary. As the prisoners of debt article indicates, a lot of BK judges don't know from this stuff ... they think a discharged debtor goes whistling and strumming into the sunset on the back of his palomino. Perhaps a letter to Arrow revoking any permission, express or implied to pull credit, hard or soft ... might intimidate 'em assuming the OP doesn't want the vagaries of going the legal route.
Yes, I am too lazy to look up the code right now . In my experience, even opting out, marketers still pull and there is not much I can do about it. But, I can do something about JDB and CA's. Damages or not, it's still a violation. I agree that you might have a better chance pursuing it from the stand point of 604. We need to educate our judges on how caviler JDB's, CA's and some businesses in general have a disrespect for the law.
I agree completely, but my answer to the question "Who can do a soft pull" was more of a real world one of, "anyone that can get away with it"...which you just fully detailed how to keep from getting away with it. The workings behind these tactics is the obvious fishing for a transaction they can leverage, whether through legal, or illegal, methods. P.S. Congrats on the paydays!
I think I'll just send them out another "permissible purpose" letter this will make the 2rd one, I faxed the 1st one. This time I'll send it Register with a returned receipt it's now become a matter of principal. Before I go to court I want to show a judge, I gave them every chance I could to stop this but coming to court was the only way I could get an answer from them. The problem is these collections agency's think they are above the law and that people will just sit back and take it. Well I might end up getting nowhere on this but I'll bet one thing for sure I bet I'll get their attention before I'm done, We'll see.
Perhaps a letter to Arrow revoking any permission, express or implied to pull credit, hard or soft ... might intimidate 'em assuming the OP doesn't want the vagaries of going the legal route. I sent Arrow a letter to this effect and also called and was told by them We are not doing any Soft pulls on your Credit Report Transunions is making a mistake, Company's do make mistakes, and we have not requested any inquires on your credit report. It's Transunions problem, not ours. Go to hell. Click! But right there they are 6 times in the last 4 mos.
Yes I have 2. Never been late. Always current. I know that Arrow is the collections Arm for Sallie Mae but like I said never Late, Always current on these 2 loans so that's gives Arrow, a Collections agency no reason to be looking. It gives SallieMae a reason but not arrow.
Also I called Sallie Mae 3 times and asked 3 different people there Why they were having their Collections Arm "Arrow" looking at my Credit Report and they claim they did not know who arrow was and I also talked to 2 supervisors and they did not know who Arrow was. Big company, Right Maybe! Arrow not looking at me for these Student Loans they have no reason to. They made a mistake and now it going to cost them.
