From the FCRA § 616. Civil liability for willful noncompliance [15 U.S.C. § 1681n]

"(b) Civil liability for knowing noncompliance. Any person who obtains a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose shall be liable to the consumer reporting agency for actual damages sustained by the consumer reporting agency or $1,000, whichever is greater."

What's NOT a "permissible purpose?"

I should have sued AT&T when they ran my credit 2 weeks AFTER I gave them a $1,000 deposit and specifically did NOT provide them with my SS# and drivers license # to avoid the inquiries. Too bad it's over 2 years now.

Also, I found that utilities and long distance service providers routinely LIE when asked about credit inquiries. "It's just a utility check" or "it's not the credit report" are BS lines. I sure got the inquiries on my reports.

MYTH: Your social security number is required to get your credit.

Nope, it's not. Credit files are obtained by using NAME and ADDRESS

Good thing I didn't sue AT&T.

I just read this again and noticed "shall be liable to the consumer reporting agency ..."

I'm obviously NOT a consumer reporting agency. Hmmm, I can't figure this out at all.

The CRA gets $1,000. Why?

And I get WHAT????? NOTHING? WHY?

From the 1998 FTC opinion letter Greenblatt at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/greenblt.htm

"Any person who procures a consumer report under false pretenses, or knowingly without a permissible purpose, is liable for $1000 or actual damages (whichever is greater) to both the consumer and to the consumer reporting agency from which the report is procured. "

Note the "whichever is greater," so it would be at least $1,000 to the consumer.

Why don't I see the word "consumer" in the FCRA?

Via fax to 925-686-7551

Wells Fargo
Legal Department

November 5, 2001

To whom it may concern:

As per my Equifax credit report, Wells Fargo obtained my credit file on 7/19/01.

I don't recall applying for credit or employment with Wells Fargo.

From the FCRA § 616. Civil liability for willful noncompliance [15 U.S.C. § 1681n]

"(b) Civil liability for knowing noncompliance. Any person who obtains a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose shall be liable to the consumer reporting agency for actual damages sustained by the consumer reporting agency or $1,000, whichever is greater."

From the 1998 FTC opinion letter Greenblatt at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/greenblt.htm:

"Any person who procures a consumer report under false pretenses, or knowingly without a permissible purpose, is liable for $1000 or actual damages (whichever is greater) to both the consumer and to the consumer reporting agency from which the report is procured."

Please explain your permissible purpose for your obtaining my credit file. Should you not have a permissible purpose, please arrange for payment of $1,000 by November 15, 2001.

Please respond via fax to 206-202-4653.

Sincerely,

Christine Baker

------------------------------------------------------------

CONFIRMATION OF YOUR FAX TRANSMISSION
FAX STATUS: SUCCESSFUL TO 19256867551
COUNTRY: 1-NORTH AMERICA
TRANSMISSION: 06-Nov-2001 04:01:33 GMT.
DURATION: 1.9 Minute
TOTAL COST: $0.21

Christine,
Has this worked for you? I have a bunch of unauthorized inquiries on my CR from Lending Tree and I have been trying to deal with them directly but they keep saying 'when you clicked on the link you gave permission to pull a credit report' The thing is I don't recall ever applying for anything with them. They 'refuse' to remove the inquiries.
thanks,
Kellie

Kellie, it's my first attempt and I don't know of anyone who actually sued for their $1,000.

"Somebody" must have given Lending Tree your name, address, etc., right?

I wonder if they log IPs (they should) for on-line apps. You could actually apply for your neighbors (just use a fake 9 digit ss #) and most likely any on-line company would run their credit. I *think*!

Until CRAs get with it and require a personal PIN for all inquiries, orders, disputes, etc. this will remain a problem.

How many is a bunch? Does anyone else have that problem?


FYI: The Small Claims complaint I DISMISSED against Wells Fargo

I have 15 on my report and my husband has 10 but they all share the same date as mine. I asked him if he had applied for any credit online and he said a couple of times but he can't remember if Lending tree was one of them. I seriously doubt he would do it 15 times! I'm wondering if they meant to pull a soft inquiry to 'offer' credit. Who knows. With my credit score NO ONE will get any loans. I was giving Lending Tree the benefit of the doubt. I have been disputing with them via email, I got a nasty we aren't taking this off your credit reports and thats that email!

Kellie, now you're raising even more questions:

Can you tell whether those were auto or mortgage inquiries?

Have you tried disputing with the bureaus?
Trans Union on inquiries

How about a SHARED planetfeedback.com letter to Lending Tree?

Can your husband legally authorize YOUR credit inquiry?

Are there TWO clicks, one for each applicant?

If I were you, I would send Lending Tree a fax similar to mine. I'd refer to their previous e-mail declining to remove the inquiries, I'd state that I didn't authorize the inquiries, and I'd demand proof of the "click" or removal within 10 days.

And, unless they come up with some real good proof or remove the inquiries, I'd sue. That's 15 times $1,000, or at least the Small Claims limit.

I just saw INQUIRIES as the 2nd score factor for a Beacon score in the 630s:

16 inquiries in the previous 12 months, but MOST were almost a year old. Only 3 inquiries in the previous 7 months. I'd say the inquiries cost my client AT LEAST 30 points.

Was still looking at this and came up with more questions:

Did you get any decline letters?

Are they all RECENT inquiries?

Christine,
All they sayis either 'joint' or 'individual'. As to PFB I had sent Lending Tree a letter and that's how I got into this whole emailing back and forth garbage.
I have disputed these inquiries with TU and nothing happened (this was 3 weeks ago though) so they still have another week to respond.
I don't think my hubby is authorized to do this. I've never stopped him before, but this is a little excessive. I'm afraid to go find out if there are 2 clicks to apply. They might throw another inquiry on there.
I will be sending Lending Tree the fax tomorrow. I sent another email to the woman today asking for her supervisors name.
While I have your attention though one more question:
I have been disputing 3 late pays with EXP, I knew I wasn't late I just couldn't find the cancelled checks. I disputed 3 times and every time it came back 'verified'. I finally started emailing Ford and they faxed me a letter stating I was never late and it would be updated immediately. (the letter is actually an EXP form). Anyway I called EXP on 10/26 and asked for a list of procedures used to be mailed to me, they said 'we don't do that'. I asked for a supervisor I was on hold for 30 mins, then I hung up.
I faxed the letter from Ford to TU EXP and EQU on 10/29. It took TU about 1 hour to remove it (Worthknowing.com) and it took Equifax about 1 day (ordered the stupid report, I'm so impatient) however to this day EXP has not removed it,(creditexpert.com). Please tell me they are in some form of violation of the FCRA. I really want to stick it to them, even if they do eventually delete the file.
Thanks Christine, your help is appreciated.
Kellie

4 of them will fall off within the next 2 months. The most recent one was in February of this year, the rest are all from last year.
I probably got decline letters, but I have never paid attention to them until I started observing my credit reports. <shrugs> guess I should not be so naive.
Kellie

Kellie,

re. Lending Tree, please let us know the results. It always helps to read your mail

re. Experian: I definitely think they are violating the FCRA. It's a section I'm not sure whether I posted about it, but I meant to. Please post your Experian problem in a new thread and I'll find it.

Got sidetracked as I was looking for the disputes and ended up looking at the Greenblatt letter at
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/greenblt.htm again.

To my surprise (need to upgrade my brain's memory), it's almost an identical situation as with Wells Fargo, involving a brokerage running the credit of clients who sued them.

I just don't know what's "willful noncompliance" and what's "neglegent noncompliance." And how is that different from "Any person who procures a consumer report under false pretenses, or knowingly without a permissible purpose ...?"

I highly recommend people read the entire letter, but here's another excerpt:

"3. If the consumer credit report requests fail to comply with §604 of the Act, what are the penalties for violation?

The penalties for violating the FCRA are governed by several different sections of the statute, and the applicability of a particular section depends on such factors as who brings the action and the degree of the violator's noncompliance.

For example, Sections 616 and 617 impose liability for willful noncompliance and negligent noncompliance, respectively. The monetary penalties mandated by these two sections include actual damages proven by a consumer, plus costs and attorneys fees in each such case.

In the case of willful violations, the court may also award punitive damages to a consumer.

Any person who procures a consumer report under false pretenses, or knowingly without a permissible purpose, is liable for $1000 or actual damages (whichever is greater) to both the consumer and to the consumer reporting agency from which the report is procured.

Also, Section 621 governs enforcement actions brought by the Commission, other agencies, and the states, and provides for various monetary and injunctive penalties. The potential monetary penalties include, for those who knowingly violate the FCRA, up to $2500 per violation in a civil action brought by the Commission in district court."

I'd greatly appreciate any links to any precedent setting court cases that can be quoted in Small Claims.

Have you heard from Wells Fargo since requesting the $1,000?

No, I haven't, and I actually FORGOT I had sent this fax. So I sent another one because I wanted a sample at "Suing for deletion of unauthorized inquiries"

It'll be interesting to see if that one gets a response, because I addressed it to the guy who handled my dismissed law suit with Wells Fargo.

The more letters I send out, the more I realize what a freaking waste of effort it is to write more than 2 sentences.

I'm still wondering whether to go through Small Claims or get a lawyer to sue in real court for the initial incorrect reporting AND the inquiry.

My Discover Account was closed in January 2001, yet they have two hard inquires in my credit report in May 2001 and June 2001 to view my account. Do they have permissible purpose to view my account this way as opposed to doing an account review? I still had a balance owed at this time, but as my account was closed would not have applied for credit with them at the time.

I am consdering suing them for lack of permissible purpose but haven't found anything in the FTC Opinion letters or the FCRA yet governing former/current creditors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Mellie, they can run your credit as long as you owe. However, they should code the inquiries as Account Reviews. (A/R)

I recommend you ask Discover to recode the inquiries, and let us know how they respond.

My settlement with Wells Fargo for $1,000 + inquiry deletion

I have a question along the same line.

I have an account with Wells Fargo and every time they do an account review, the pull an hard inquiry. Do they have an permissible purpose? When I contacted them, they said that is the only way they can access my account i.e they cannot change in to an AR. Is there anything I can do about it? I have four hard inquires from them from the last year.