No, your bank should not pull credit reports on behalf of your landlord customer without obtaining express written permission from his applicants to do so.   

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) permits a bank to obtain an individual’s credit report in limited circumstances. In our view, the only permissible purpose for pulling a credit report on a customer’s behalf would be with the individual’s prior written consent. Here, it does not appear that the landlord’s acknowledgment form would qualify as the requisite written consent; rather, it merely provides consent for the landlord to pull and view the applicants’ credit reports — but not for your bank. Additionally, distributing credit reports to a third party (the landlord) could risk exposing your bank to allegations that it is acting as a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA.

We also recommend examining your agreement with the credit reporting agency that provides these credit reports. This agreement almost certainly prohibits your bank from pulling a report without a permissible purpose and also likely limits your bank’s ability to share its credit reports with third parties.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681b(a) (“Subject to subsection (c), any consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other: . . . (2) In accordance with the written instructions of the consumer to whom it relates.”)

• Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681a(f) (“The term ‘consumer reporting agency’ means any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties . . . .”)