How to Get a Credit Report on Someone Else: Rules and Legal Duties

You can get a credit report on someone else only if your reason fits one of the “permissible purposes” listed in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and in most everyday situations that means getting written authorization from the person first and then submitting the request through an authorized screening service or, for family matters, directly to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion with documentation of your relationship. There is no general right to look up another adult’s credit, and pulling a report without a legal basis exposes you to civil damages and, in some cases, criminal charges.

When You’re Allowed to Pull Someone Else’s Report

The credit bureaus will only release a consumer report to someone with a permissible purpose under the FCRA. Being a spouse, a parent of an adult child, or a business partner does not qualify on its own. The recognized purposes are:

Written consent from the person whose report you want. This is the basis most landlords, employers, and volunteer requesters rely on.
A credit transaction: evaluating a loan application, reviewing an existing account, or collecting on a debt.
Insurance underwriting.
A government agency determining eligibility for a license or benefit that requires reviewing finances.
A state child support agency setting or modifying an award.
A court order or federal grand jury subpoena.
A legitimate business need tied to a transaction the consumer initiated, like opening a bank account or signing up for a cell phone plan.¹

If your reason doesn’t fall into one of these buckets, no credit bureau can legally hand you the report, and no reputable screening service will help you get one.

What You Need to Submit a Request

To locate the right file, the bureau needs the subject’s full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, and current address. A previous address may be required if the person moved recently.²

You’ll usually also need a signed authorization form. Employers always need one. Landlords typically collect it as part of the rental application. A creditor evaluating an application the consumer submitted generally doesn’t need separate consent, because the application itself establishes the permissible purpose.

Most businesses don’t request reports directly from the three bureaus. They go through an authorized tenant-screening or employment-screening service that handles the submission, verifies the permissible-purpose certification, and keeps the compliance paperwork. These services run online portals where you upload the consumer’s identifying information, upload the signed authorization, and certify your legal basis for the pull.

Pulling a Report on a Job Applicant or Employee

Employers face stricter rules than anyone else. Before pulling the report, the employer must give the candidate a written disclosure stating that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. That disclosure has to stand alone as its own document. It cannot be buried in the job application or bundled with liability waivers.¹ The written authorization can appear on the same page as the disclosure, but any other acknowledgments or releases have to sit in a separate document.³

Pulling a Report on a Prospective Tenant

Landlords rely on the applicant’s written consent as their permissible purpose. That consent is typically part of the rental application. Most landlords work through a tenant-screening service rather than contacting the bureaus directly, so the practical steps are: collect the applicant’s identifying information, get a signed authorization, and submit both through the screening portal.

Checking a Child’s Credit File

Children generally don’t have credit reports unless someone has opened accounts in their name, which usually points to identity theft. A parent or legal guardian can check whether a file exists for a child under 18 by contacting each bureau and providing:

A government-issued photo ID
Proof of address, such as a utility bill or insurance statement
The child’s birth certificate
The child’s Social Security card

Legal guardians who aren’t the biological parent also need documentation proving guardianship.⁴

Federal law also lets parents, guardians, and conservators place a security freeze on a protected consumer’s file. A protected consumer includes a child under 16 and an incapacitated adult with an appointed guardian or conservator.⁵ If no file exists, the bureau will create one solely to place the freeze on it.

Pulling a Report for an Incapacitated Adult

A court-appointed guardian or conservator, or someone holding a valid power of attorney, can act on a person’s behalf for credit-file purposes. To place or lift a freeze, you send the bureau proof of your authority (the court order or POA document) along with your own identity documents such as a driver’s license, birth certificate, or Social Security card.⁵

To pull the actual report rather than just freeze it, a power of attorney can serve as the “written instructions of the consumer” that the FCRA recognizes as a permissible purpose.¹ Each bureau has its own procedure for verifying POA documents, so expect to mail copies and wait for processing rather than get instant online access.

Pulling a Report on a Deceased Person

An executor or personal representative of the estate can request the deceased person’s credit report to identify debts the estate may owe. The request goes by mail. There is no online portal. It has to include a copy of the death certificate along with court documentation, such as letters testamentary, showing you were appointed to manage the estate.⁶

You should also ask the bureaus to place a deceased indicator on the file to block new accounts from being opened. Notifying one bureau is supposed to trigger notification to the other two, but many estate attorneys recommend contacting all three directly.⁷

What the Law Requires After You Use the Report

Getting the report is only half the compliance picture. Two obligations catch most requesters off guard.

Adverse Action Notices

If you deny credit, reject a rental application, decline an insurance policy, or make any other negative decision based even partly on the report, you have to notify the consumer. Skipping this step is itself an FCRA violation regardless of how legitimate your original pull was. The notice has to include:

What you decided, stated clearly
The numerical credit score you used
The name, address, and phone number of the bureau that furnished the report
A statement that the bureau did not make the decision and cannot explain it
Notice that the consumer can get a free copy of the report within 60 days and can dispute inaccuracies⁸

Employers have an added step. Before taking final adverse action, the employer has to send a pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of the consumer’s FCRA rights, then give the candidate a reasonable opportunity to review and dispute what’s in it before the final decision.³ Only after that waiting period can the final adverse-action notice go out.

Disposal of the Report

You can’t just toss a used credit report in the trash. Federal rules require anyone who holds consumer report information for a business purpose to dispose of it with reasonable measures that prevent unauthorized access. Paper records get shredded or burned. Electronic files get permanently deleted or the storage destroyed. If you hire a disposal company, you’re expected to verify their practices through audits, references, or industry certifications.⁹ The rule covers landlords who print out an applicant’s report as well as creditors who download files.

What Happens If You Pull a Report Without a Permissible Purpose

The penalties scale with intent. A willful FCRA violation lets the consumer sue for the greater of their actual losses or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per violation, plus possible punitive damages and attorney’s fees. For someone who obtained a report under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose, the floor is $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater.¹⁰

Even a negligent violation (say, poorly trained staff who didn’t verify a permissible purpose) exposes the requester to the consumer’s actual damages plus attorney’s fees, though statutory damages aren’t available and the consumer has to prove real financial harm.¹¹

Knowingly obtaining consumer report information under false pretenses is also a federal crime, punishable by a fine, up to two years in prison, or both.¹² This is the provision that reaches someone who poses as an employer to pull an ex-partner’s file, or a company that fabricates a business relationship to run a check.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
2
Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Reports
3
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know
4
Federal Trade Commission. How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
5
Federal Trade Commission. Managing Someone Else’s Money: New Protection From ID Theft and Fraud
6
Equifax. How Do I Obtain a Credit Report for a Deceased Person?
7
Equifax. After a Relative’s Death, Do I Need to Contact Each Nationwide Credit Bureau?
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
9
eCFR. Part 682 – Disposal of Consumer Report Information and Records
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681q – Obtaining Information Under False Pretenses