Is it legal to pull Credit Report of an existing borrower

[Abdenour Achab]

Hi,

Somebody I loan money to has signed a promissory note, but not an authorization to check her credit. As her lender, is it legal for me to pull out her credit report now without her authorization ? Both of us live in the state of California. My motivation is to make sure that the social security number she gave me is the correct one. I know her name and address are the correct ones, but I had never checked her social security number. By the way, is there a way of checking a social security number without pulling a full credit report ?

Once I have made sure that the social I have is the correct one, I want to report the payments as delinquent to all 3 credit bureaus. What's the cheapest way of doing that ?

Thanks,

Abdenour

[Ade O.]

I do not think you can check her credit without written authorization, there are new federal laws that could be violated if you do not get a written authorization. a promissory note does not constitute authorization to check credit. you probably should have had her sign the authorization to check her credit form and checked her credit before loaning her the money. There her stiff penalties if you check someones credit without authorization.