Credit Report for Suspicious Activity

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Question:

If an individual only has a checking account, and you want to run a credit report to check something for suspicious activity, are you allowed to do so and by what reg?

Answer:

Follow this link to section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act which describes the "permissible purposes" which allow you to obtain a consumer a report. Paragraph (a)(3)(F)(ii) says one "legitimate business need" is to review an account to determine whether the consumer continues to meet the terms of the account.

That is as close as I can get you to having the ability to pull a consumer report for the purpose of investigating suspicious activity. Frankly, I don't think it's close enough; I would advise against it.

First published on BankersOnline.com 9/29/03