How Private Investigators Collectors Pull Credit

By: Jeffrey Little

Break Studios Contributing Writer

Before hearing in your mind’s ear the theme from “Mannix” or “The Rockford Files”, you should understand that there is very little glamour involved in how private investigators collectors pull credit. As a matter of fact, their process is quite mundane and involves simply the following:

  • State Licensing
  • Persistence
  • Legally surrendered info
  1. Here’s my badge. A private investigator’s license is, more often times than not, a mere formality requiring the filling out of paperwork and the payment of a fee that makes any given individual a licensed “P.I.” in most states. But even though this provides no actual law enforcement clout, it does give such individuals the edge when showing clerks and other desk jockeys official-looking identification as they aspire to pull credit reports.
  2. Try, try again. In the information age, most anything can be found out about anyone at anytime, and this is advantageous in the business of how private investigators and collectors pull credit. So in other words, numerous legal queries can be made through organizations such as Equifax and TransUnion through various means.
  3. I signed what? Within the stacks of fine print embedded within loan applications and other financial documents, there is a disclosure portion that basically allows transference of information such as home phone numbers and addresses to anyone. And, this basically serves to tell us all how private investigators and collectors pull credit in that this is their most important tool.

So, realize that no one is stalking you or bugging your home to find the credit information. Instead they are just “paper pushing", as is the way of the world where credit reports are concerned.      

Posted on: Jun. 22, 2010