Comcast sued by King of Prussia man over claims of an unauthorized credit check

A King of Prussia man who has won tens of thousands of dollars suing companies over sales calls is now taking on Comcast, claiming the cable giant illegally accessed his credit report without permission.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Philadelphia, James Everett Shelton said Comcast obtained his credit report after the company called him two years ago to sell him service. Shelton says the company violated his privacy and harmed his credit score.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, alleges Comcast’s actions violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires written consent from consumers to access credit reports. Shelton suggests the company has made thousands of unauthorized inquiries into consumers’ credit reports, according to the complaint.

Comcast did not return a request for comment.

In his complaint, Shelton said he never gave Comcast permission to review his credit report. He said he asked Comcast to remove the hard inquiry from his Equifax file in June 2018, but instead the company accessed it again.

The Philadelphia company has faced similar allegations in court, and customers have complained in online forums of unauthorized inquiries into their credit reports.

“Corporations in all aspects tend to play fast and loose with this issue,” said attorney Greg Gorski, who is representing Shelton. “Imagine somebody decides to come into your house and open up your desk drawer that contains all of your personal information. … That’s what tangibly goes on here when someone pulls your credit report without telling you.”

Shelton, 24, said he has filed more than 50 lawsuits against all sorts of companies, many over allegedly illegal robocalls. Last May, he won $33,000 from a company he said sent him 22 unwanted sales calls. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland that month.