Is it normal for usbank to run my credit without me knowing about it?

i recently submitted an offer to settle my on my collection. while waiting for their reply, i have noticed that they ran my credit. is it allowed for them to run my credit?

after they ran my credit, the score went down from 734 to 722.

Yes it is.

In a attempt to collect on a debt lenders are allowed to pull credit. It would be a soft pull so it will not hurt your credit score.

They also will do this to see if they want to offer you a credit limit increase or to see how you are paying your other bills.

This is allowed by their terms and conditions.

yes

Yes, If you owe them money (or are applying for credit). Many credit card comapanies run reports on their cardholders and will even increase the interest rate if their credit score goes down (increased risk) even if they have never paid that particular card late. Capital One runs reports every month. Other banks also do this.

Yes, it is. Contrary to popular view, you do not "own" your credit report. Its a data base owned and sold by the credit bureau. You do have the right of access to review it.

yes they can pull your credit....it's a soft inquiry that isn't going to affect your credit score because you didn't sign anything asking for credit

your credit is reviewed by so many companies....that is how and why we get so many preapproved credit offers

they review your credit report (without your consent) and send you the mailing but if you notice on your credit report it will show at the top that the following inquiries does not affect your score (that's because you didn't initiate the request)

but there is another section that will show the following inquiries that will affect your score (these are from places that you have signed and authorized them to check your credit)

there are 2 kinds of inquiries:
one that occurs because you are applying for credit and the other when banks request a list of scores above "X" so that they can send you one of the 1000's of "pre-approved" credit offers.

More than likely, the request is the latter and your (slight) change in your credit score is co-incidental.

and while you do not "own" your credit history, your explicit permission is necessary to pull a fully detailed credit report which is one of the things that you agree to when you sign (physically of electronically) an application (so always be careful and read what you are signing so you aren't giving someone access to your information).