Doing a soft credit pull

[tajjyarden]

Hello,

For my website we are looking at having the ability to do a "soft pull" on someone's credit. A soft pull is different than a "hard pull" in that it doesn't ding their credit report, and it's used to pre-approve someone for a loan. Does anyone have any ideas on where to start to implement a soft pull system on my site?

Thanks

[Redcore]

I'm not even sure if that's legal unless you're authorized from the credit bureaus...

[tajjyarden]

Ya, that was one of the things that I'm trying to find out. I can't imagine that it is legal. But the other question this leads to is how do you even attain that type of authorization?

[Redcore]

You'd probably have to be authorized with any one (or all) of the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union). They may have services you can utilize (I'm sure there would be hoops to jump through for that kind of access) but I don't think you could access their databases directly. It's a pretty big security risk. I think large companies (such as banks) get exclusive access and have the ability to do these things, but not any old Joe like you and I.