<prompt> Human: Im not sure if this belongs here, but my wife and I are extremely frugal, and have worked very hard to get our credit scores where they area. Currently we are both above 800. We know this because after contacting our bank about a refinance, we were put in touch with a loan officer. We gave him basic details about our mortgage but did not give our social security numbers, dates of birth, and most of all, permission to run our credit. Especially since the type of loan we were interested in did not require a credit pull. Yes, I know that a hard inquiry does not affect the score much, and multiple inquiries in a short time count as one. but I am angry this guy did it without asking. Do I have any recourse? My wife and I are upset to say the least.  <response>: Speaking from the standpoint of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, since thats the likely source of any recourse, I would argue that they had a permissible purpose and that your explicit permission was not necessary.15 USC 1681b3A provides: Subject to subsection c of this section, any consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other: ... To a person which it has reason to believe ... intends to use the information in connection with a credit transaction involving the consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumerIf you want to refinance your mortgage, a review of your account and your other finances would be prudent.Theres also the catch all provision at 15 USC 1681b3Fi: Subject to subsection c of this section, any consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other ... To a person which it has reason to believe ... otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information ... in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumerThe legality aside, the characterization of inquiries is mostly a bank and credit bureau policy thing. I would contact the bank and nicely ask them to delete the inquiry, or ask them to convert it to a soft inquiry. 