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

You can get a credit report on someone else only if you have a “permissible purpose” recognized by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and in most everyday situations that means getting the person’s written authorization before you ask a credit bureau or screening service for the file. Being their spouse, parent, business partner, or friend is not enough on its own. The rules also change depending on who the subject is: an adult who consents, a job applicant, a minor child, an incapacitated relative, or someone who has died.¹

When the Law Lets You Pull Someone Else’s Report

Credit bureaus can only release a consumer report when the requester fits one of the permissible purposes in the FCRA. There is no general right to look up another adult’s credit. The recognized reasons are:

Written instructions from the consumer authorizing the release. This is the basis most landlords, employers, and people acting under a power of attorney rely on.
A credit transaction the consumer is involved in, such as a loan application, account review, or debt collection.
Insurance underwriting for a policy involving the consumer.
A government agency’s determination of eligibility for a license or benefit that requires evaluating financial standing.
Child support enforcement by a state agency setting or modifying an award.
A court order or federal grand jury subpoena.
A legitimate business need connected to a transaction the consumer initiated, like opening a bank account or a cell phone plan.¹

If your situation doesn’t match one of these, no bureau can legally hand you the report, and no legitimate screening service will run it.

What You Need to Submit a Request

Assuming you have a permissible purpose, the bureau still needs enough identifying detail to pull the correct file. That means the person’s full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, and current address. A recent previous address may also be needed if they’ve moved.²

You’ll also need a signed authorization form in most cases. Employers always do. Landlords typically fold consent into the rental application. A creditor evaluating a loan the consumer applied for generally doesn’t need a separate consent form because the application itself supplies the permissible purpose.

Requests go to one or more of the three nationwide bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Most requesters don’t contact the bureaus directly. They work through an authorized screening service that runs an online portal, collects the consumer’s information, certifies the permissible purpose, and handles the compliance paperwork.

Employment Credit Checks Have Extra Rules

Employers face stricter requirements than other users. Before pulling a candidate’s or employee’s report, an employer must give the person a written disclosure stating that a report may be obtained for employment purposes. That disclosure has to be its own standalone document, not tucked inside the job application or bundled with a liability waiver. The written authorization can go on the same page as the disclosure, but any other releases or acknowledgments belong in a separate document.³

Employment use also triggers a two-step adverse action process covered further down.

Pulling a Report on a Child

Children generally don’t have credit files unless someone has opened accounts in their name, which usually points to identity theft. A parent or legal guardian can ask each bureau to check whether a file exists for a child under 18. You’ll need to send:

A government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license
Proof of your address, like 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 separately allows parents, guardians, and conservators to place a security freeze on a “protected consumer” file, which covers children under 16 and incapacitated adults with an appointed guardian or conservator. If no file exists yet, the bureau will create one solely to attach the freeze.⁵

Pulling a Report for an Incapacitated Adult

If you’re a court-appointed guardian or conservator, or you hold a valid power of attorney, you can act on the person’s behalf with the bureaus. To place or lift a freeze, you’ll send the bureau proof of your authority (the court order or the POA document) along with proof of your own identity such as a driver’s license, birth certificate, or Social Security card.⁵

To actually pull the report rather than just freeze the file, a power of attorney can serve as the “written instructions of the consumer” that the FCRA treats 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 getting instant online access.

Pulling a Report on Someone Who Has Died

An executor or personal representative of an estate can request a deceased person’s credit report to identify debts the estate may owe. The request is made by mail; there’s no online portal. Include a copy of the death certificate along with court documentation such as letters testamentary showing that you’ve been appointed to manage the estate.⁶

While you’re at it, ask the bureaus to place a deceased indicator on the file, which helps stop identity thieves from opening new accounts. Notifying one bureau should alert the other two, but many estate attorneys recommend contacting all three directly.⁷

What You Have to Do After Using the Report

Getting the report is only part of the compliance picture. Two follow-on duties apply to almost every user.

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 a credit report, federal law requires you to tell the consumer. The notice must contain:

A clear statement of the decision you made
The credit score you used
The name, address, and phone number of the credit 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 inaccurate information⁸

Employers have an extra step. Before taking final adverse action, an employer must send a pre-adverse-action notice that includes a copy of the report and a summary of the consumer’s FCRA rights. The candidate then gets a reasonable window to review the report and dispute or explain anything in it. Only after that does the employer send the final adverse action notice described above.³

Disposal of the Report

Once you’ve used a report, federal rules require you to dispose of it using reasonable measures that prevent unauthorized access. Paper records get shredded or burned. Electronic files get permanently deleted or the storage media destroyed. If you hire a disposal company, you’re expected to verify their practices through audits, references, or industry certifications.⁹ The standard isn’t perfection, but leaving reports in an unsecured trash bin plainly falls short.

What Happens If You Pull One Without a Permissible Purpose

The penalties scale with how deliberately you acted. A willful FCRA violation exposes you to the consumer’s actual damages or statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per violation, whichever is greater, plus possible punitive damages with no statutory cap, attorney’s fees, and court costs. Someone who obtained a report under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose faces a floor of $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater.¹⁰

A negligent violation still costs money. The consumer can recover actual damages plus attorney’s fees, though not statutory damages, so they have to prove real financial harm. Poor training on permissible-purpose rules is a common source of negligence claims against businesses.¹¹

There’s a criminal side as well. Anyone who knowingly obtains consumer report information under false pretenses can be fined, imprisoned for up to two years, or both. That’s the provision that reaches, for example, someone posing as an employer to run an ex-partner’s credit, or a company inventing a business relationship to justify a pull.¹²

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