I opened an account at a bank in April 2005 after they ran my credit through Equifax. I was approved but due to vindictiveness of the CEO, my account was closed the next day. I had previously reported him for misbehavior to the board of directors, so I was on his "bad" list. After he closed my account, I had no obligations or business relationships with the bank. I never bounced any checks or caused a loss to the institution, but he retaliated against me because I filed complaints about him.

15 months later, in July 2006, I notice the same bank pulled a HARD inquiry on me through Equifax. I had no business dealings with them since 15 months earlier, so there was no business reason to be pulling my credit.

Was this inquiry illegal? I have been damaged because inquiries lower my credit score. What is my recourse? I have written the credit bureaus before and they refuse to remove inquiries. What should I do? Can I sue, with little effort, the bank and would I be likely to win?

Dispute the entry on the credit report, demand verification, if they cannot verify it it must be removed.

See the link for verification
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankru...ion-17570.html

Impermissible inquiries are inquiries of Creditor that have no reason to run your credit report, for instance if you applied for a Credit Card and you have signed your name giving the credit permission to request your Credit Report. However, in order to delete inquiries from your credit report you should continue to dispute the inquiries and mail a copy of your disputes and complaints to Federal Trade Co.
Creditor (Equifax, Trans Union/ Experian) get tired of your letters and the Creditor have 30 days to respond, so after a while the Creditors get tired of responding the Credit Bureaus and get tired and you win because they only have 30 days to respond.