Can a bank run your credit without your consent?I opened a business checkings account at Bank of America on Friday under the business EIN. They asked for my SSN and said the patriot act required them to ask that information. I got an e-mail alert from TransUnion that Bank of America ran my credit. I have accounts at USAA, Compass, San Antonio City Employees... | |
Whenever you open a bank account with a bank or a credit union they run a "hard" enquiry of your credit report.
Most all banks run a credit check prior to you opening an account, although the bank is required to tell you they will be conducting a credit check or have you sign a form acknowledging that you are aware of this action. Yes it is illegal and you can dispute the inquiry that was placed on your credit report. As for the company, all you can do is contact the Better Business Bureau, (but trust me you will be wasting your time).
I am unaware of the law in the US, but in the UK banks routinely do credit checks when you open an account. Indeed most will not even open an account without doing a check.Even more so if you open a business account.
Of course it's legal. Just a verbal consent is sufficient to run a credit check. Banks typically just run 'soft hits' or credit inquires. A soft hit is just to see if you have anything in collections and doesn't impact your credit score negatively but it will show up on your credit and you will get a notification from a credit monitoring service. FICO scoring method defines a hard hit as trying to take credit out. They see this as putting you at a higher risk and thus temporarily lowering your score. If it's just a checking account and not line of credit don't worry.
They should not run a credit check unless you are getting a loan
