Consumer complaint received 05/30/2016 about Debt collection (Credit card) with ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. (MI).
Issue: Improper contact or sharing of info
Sub-issue: Talked to a third party about my debt

Complaint: Soft pulled my credit report without permissible purpose, violation " FCRA 604. Permissible purposes of consumer reports ( a ) In general. Subject to subsection ( c ), any consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other : ( 3 ) To a person which it has reason to believe ( A ) intends to use the information in connection with a credit trans-action involving the consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumer ; '' The collection account was piad therefore removing midlands permissible purpose of obtaining my credit report Permissible purpose under FCRA 604 is only granted for the purpose of " collection on a debt. '' Once the debt is paid, there is no longer any debt upon which any collection activities can be conducted, including access to your credit report. 



A dispute is a challenge of the accuracy of THEIR reporting to a CRA. There is no permissible purpose under any subsection f FCRA 604 for evaluation of a dispute. 

It is their reporting that is at issue, not your history with other furnishers FCRA 616 for Willful Noncompliance, and FCRA 617 for Negligent Noncompliance As for only being a soft inquiry, that is really irrelevant. 

They get the same full credit report as they would have if the inquiry had been hard, so the damage is the same. They received your personal information without your consent or without any permissible purpose. The fact that others wont see record of the inquiry when they pull your credit report is really immaterial to the fact that they have received your credit information illegally " FCRA 607. Compliance procedures [ 15 U.S.C. 1681e ] Identity and purposes of credit users. Every consumer reporting agency shall maintain reasonable procedures designed to avoid violations of sec-tion 605 [ 1681c ] and to limit the furnishing of consumer reports to the purposes listed under section 604 [ 1681b ] of this title. These procedures shall require that prospective users of the information identify themselves, certify the purposes for which the information is sought, and certify that the information will be used for no other purpose. Every consumer reporting agency shall make a reasonable effort to verify the identity of a new prospective user and the uses certified by such prospective user prior to furnishing such user a consumer report. No consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report to any person if it has reasonable grounds for believing that the consumer report will not be used for a purpose listed in section 604 [ 1681b ] of this title. '' " FCRA 609. Disclosures to consumers [ 15 U.S.C. 1681g ] ( a ) Information on file ; sources ; report recipients. Every consumer reporting agency shall, upon request, and subject to 610 ( a ) ( 1 ) [ 1681h ], clearly and accurately disclose to the consumer : ( 1 ) All information in the consumer 's file at the time of the request except that -- ( A ) if the consumer to whom the file relates requests that the first XXXX digits of the social security number ( or similar identification number ) of the consumer not be included in the disclosure and the consumer reporting agency has received appropriate proof of the identity of the requester, the consumer reporting agency shall so truncate such number in such disclosure ; and ( B ) nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to require a con-sumer reporting agency to disclose to a consumer any information concerning credit scores or any other risk scores or predic-tors relating to the consumer FCRA 619 provides that " any person who knowingly and willfully obtains information on a consumer from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or bot

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation