Credit Reports

It is legal for you to obtain a credit report on someone without their permission provided you have legally valid reasons to do so in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

For example, you have a judgment against them for money owed or they currently have an open account with you. However, the major credit reporting agencies make it very difficult for someone other than the individual themselves to pull a credit report. This is for privacy and identity theft reasons.

Suitable qualified licensed mortgage brokers, banks etc are set up to legally pull credit reports themselves.

If you turn someone down based on their credit they are entitled to know why and get the name of the credit reporting agency.