credit inquiries on credit reports illegal?

I saw lots of inquiries on my credit report by companies, banks, and agencies that I have never had business with, or, applied for credit with.

Did they get my personal credit information?

Does this effect my credit scoring?

How can I stop them from getting information?

Depends on what type pf inquiry it is. A "Hard" pull of your report affects your FICO score. A "Soft" pull may not.

Did you apply for credit cards or any loans over the internet. Sometimes when you have applied for somethig they may release your information to third parties if you do not read the small print.

I would call the CRAs and and report this.

Based on my reports I've learned that collection agencies can show up under "hard" inquires as well!

Since I can get a daily update I've seen a couple show up on my credit reports and knew they would be calling before they actually did!!

Same here...

Inquires will effect your credit score. Collection Agencies are only suppose to pull a soft inquiry, however, most of them do not.

I have not had much success with getting inquiries removed. Whenever I dispute them, I am told by the CBs to contact the company directly.

If anyone knows of how to get them off...I would sure love to hear how they did it.

There is no requirement for a CA to do a Soft pull. They have permissable purpose to do a hard inquiry. In the OP's situation, sounds like most of these are soft inquiries that can be eliminated by opting out of the presecreened offers.

Agreed a CA can pull your report in the same manner as a creditor f they hold your account.

What do you mean by "A "Soft" pull may not. "

What does "May" mean more specifically. What could you do if a company pulled your credit without authorization? How would you go about pursuing and proving that.

If the company pulled your credit report without your knowledge then dispute it to the CRA. These are known as "soft" pulls, and probably for pre-approved credit cards, loans, etc..

A "Soft" pull is NOT supposed to affect your FICO score. They are only viewable by yourself not creditors, lenders, etc..

READ here for more information on each type of inquiry.

I found a company that works closely with attorneys to challenge actions of creditors.

As you start researching you will find out that what the creditors are supposed to do and what they do are a lot of times two very different things.

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