topic Re: ALLY is creeping me out! in Credit Cards

ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:50:23 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled my full EX CR and saw that Ally softed me in February. I couldn't imagine why, as I have never done any business with them, AND I am opted-out, so NO ONE should be seeing my CR except for my creditors.

Then, this afternoon I just pulled my full EX CR again, to check my softs, and saw that Ally has softed me AGAIN -- exactly 1 month after the last one. And something else that's odd: the date of last month's soft is GONE! I have proof from my printout of the last CR, but on my CR there is ONLY ONE soft for this month.

I am really P-O'd! Seriously, this is a violation of whatever little privacy I supposedly have left. I want to know how to get this to STOP. MY CR is none of their damned business. Does anyone have any suggestions?

This is the only info on my CR:

ALLY FINANCIAL

PO BOX 33414
DETROIT MI 48232
No phone number available

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

Open123 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:27:10 GMT

You know, they've been softing me on Ex too.

It's rare that a company with whom I've never dealt with softs me consistently.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

icebain — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:27:59 GMT

I know Ally has taken over a BUNCH of regional banks recently. Were you a customer to a regional bank in your past and they had you on file?

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:36:55 GMT

Not that I'm aware of. I've been with the same bank for the last 5 or 6 yrs and before that was with Wells Fargo for many years. Even if I had a closed account at a bank or S&L that they took over, how does that give them the right to soft me?!

Googling Ally and found this: http://politiac.com/Ally_Bank_Mixes_Socialism_Oppression_and_Checking/ Doesn't explain the softing, but interesting info about them.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:39:07 GMT

Open123 wrote:
You know, they've been softing me on Ex too.

It's rare that a company with whom I've never dealt with softs me consistently.

Are your CR showing all of the softs, or is the previous month's deleted when the new one shows up? I think that's even odder, since ALL softs are supposed to be there. There are a gazillion softs from USAA, Experian, EQ for all of my checking. So, it's not like there's a legitimate reason for last month's soft to no longer be showing. And actually, I don't know when the softing began because I didn't notice it until a couple of weeks ago.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:43:41 GMT

Does anyone know where I can find out what my rights are in this situation?

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

Open123 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:57:35 GMT

icebain wrote:
I know Ally has taken over a BUNCH of regional banks recently. Were you a customer to a regional bank in your past and they had you on file?

No, none that I can remember.

Maybe, they're looking to give out car loans? I have no idea. LOL

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:22:36 GMT

bichonmom wrote:
A couple of weeks ago, I pulled my full EX CR and saw that Ally softed me in February. I couldn't imagine why, as I have never done any business with them, AND I am opted-out, so NO ONE should be seeing my CR except for my creditors.

Then, this afternoon I just pulled my full EX CR again, to check my softs, and saw that Ally has softed me AGAIN -- exactly 1 month after the last one. And something else that's odd: the date of last month's soft is GONE! I have proof from my printout of the last CR, but on my CR there is ONLY ONE soft for this month.

I am really P-O'd! Seriously, this is a violation of whatever little privacy I supposedly have left. I want to know how to get this to STOP. MY CR is none of their damned business. Does anyone have any suggestions?

This is the only info on my CR:
ALLY FINANCIAL
PO BOX 33414
DETROIT MI 48232
No phone number available

Cheer up! This isn't the type of soft pull that an existing creditor can do, where they see your whole report. (Existing creditors can do this so that they can see if you're running up your bills and ready to skip.)

99.9% chance that this is a promotional soft pull, where Ally is buying the demographics (names and addresses) of consumers whose credit profiles fit a fairly broad set of guidelines, to decide if maybe they want to send you some sort of offer. For promo soft pulls, they don't see your credit history.

EQ and TU full reports have prefixes/ suffixes that indicate the purpose of the pull. So EQ uses -PR on these. Experian doesn't bother to indicate the PP (permissible purpose) for pulls, in keeping with their apparent belief that consumers have no business knowing anything about our reports. :P >:(

Anyway, I truly don't think that they are accessing your credit info.

btw, when lenders buy these promo lists, they use a pretty broad set of parameters. That's why so many people get "pre-approvals" in the mail, but are shot down when they apply. The parameters of the pull don't catch the oopsies on their reports that trigger a decline.

You can stop these promo pulls by opting out: Opting Out You can opt back in via the same link.

Read this for more discussion on opting out.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:31:27 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:

Cheer up! This isn't the type of soft pull that an existing creditor can do, where they see your whole report. (Existing creditors can do this so that they can see if you're running up your bills and ready to skip.)

99.9% chance that this is a promotional soft pull, where Ally is buying the demographics (names and addresses) of consumers whose credit profiles fit a fairly broad set of guidelines, to decide if maybe they want to send you some sort of offer. For promo soft pulls, they don't see your credit history.

EQ and TU full reports have prefixes/ suffixes that indicate the purpose of the pull. So EQ uses -PR on these. Experian doesn't bother to indicate the PP (permissible purpose) for pulls, in keeping with their apparent belief that consumers have no business knowing anything about our reports. :P >:(

Anyway, I truly don't think that they are accessing your credit info.

btw, when lenders buy these promo lists, they use a pretty broad set of parameters. That's why so many people get "pre-approvals" in the mail, but are shot down when they apply. The parameters of the pull don't catch the oopsies on their reports that trigger a decline.

You can stop these promo pulls by opting out: Opting Out You can opt back in via the same link.

Read this for more discussion on opting out.

That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:40:13 GMT

bichonmom wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:

Cheer up! This isn't the type of soft pull that an existing creditor can do, where they see your whole report. (Existing creditors can do this so that they can see if you're running up your bills and ready to skip.)

99.9% chance that this is a promotional soft pull, where Ally is buying the demographics (names and addresses) of consumers whose credit profiles fit a fairly broad set of guidelines, to decide if maybe they want to send you some sort of offer. For promo soft pulls, they don't see your credit history.

EQ and TU full reports have prefixes/ suffixes that indicate the purpose of the pull. So EQ uses -PR on these. Experian doesn't bother to indicate the PP (permissible purpose) for pulls, in keeping with their apparent belief that consumers have no business knowing anything about our reports. :P >:(

Anyway, I truly don't think that they are accessing your credit info.

btw, when lenders buy these promo lists, they use a pretty broad set of parameters. That's why so many people get "pre-approvals" in the mail, but are shot down when they apply. The parameters of the pull don't catch the oopsies on their reports that trigger a decline.

You can stop these promo pulls by opting out: Opting Out You can opt back in via the same link.

Read this for more discussion on opting out.

That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

Oh right, we've had this convo before, right? :D (sorry, I lose track)

How long ago did you opt out? Many people find that it takes 6 weeks or more for all the promo junk to dry up.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

Open123 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:40:21 GMT

bichonmom wrote:
That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

So am I, which is why initially I suspected potential ID theft, such as a person opening a deposit account with my social or my name.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:42:27 GMT

Open123 wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.
So am I, which is why initially I suspected potential ID theft, such as a person opening a deposit account with my social or my name.

Same question as for bichonmom: How long ago did you opt out? There's quite a delay in this taking effect.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

Open123 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:43:04 GMT

Hm, about 6 months?

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:53:13 GMT

Open123 wrote:
Hm, about 6 months?

OK, that's worth a call.

(edited out completely random and unrelated dithering about BofA cards)

Sorry, sorry, sorry, I have completely lost my mind. I was replying to the wrong thread. Please see my reply to bichonmom below. I would call Ally and ask them why they're pulling the reports of someone who is opted out. And did you ever have a car loan with GMAC?

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:45:47 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

Oh right, we've had this convo before, right? :D (sorry, I lose track)

How long ago did you opt out? Many people find that it takes 6 weeks or more for all the promo junk to dry up.

I opted out last summer.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:47:40 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
Open123 wrote:
Hm, about 6 months?
OK, that's worth a call.

Is your CL over $5K?

Back when all this Siggy/ World stuff started, 3 years or so ago, and none reported limits, and they just up and did it, there was huge speculation as to why banks would suddenly upgrade cards without running it by the cardholders.

It appears that the banks make more off of a Siggy/World swipe than from a standard card.

Maybe BofA, in its endless shaking of the money tree, has decided to automatically upgrade all the accounts of consumers that it semi-trusts, in hopes of generating higher transaction fees??

I don't quite understand how this relates to Ally softing a CR.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:48:24 GMT

bichonmom wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

Oh right, we've had this convo before, right? :D (sorry, I lose track)

How long ago did you opt out? Many people find that it takes 6 weeks or more for all the promo junk to dry up.
I opted out last summer.

Sorry, I completely lost my mind with my reply above. I was replying to a different thread.

I would call Ally and tell them that you are opted out, and politely ask them what the heck they're up to.

Did you ever have a car loan with GMAC? (forerunner of Ally)

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

bichonmom — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:49:34 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
That's why I'm so concerned... I AM opted out of all 3 CRAs.

Oh right, we've had this convo before, right? :D (sorry, I lose track)

How long ago did you opt out? Many people find that it takes 6 weeks or more for all the promo junk to dry up.
I opted out last summer.
Sorry, I completely lost my mind with my reply above. I was replying to a different thread.

I would call Ally and tell them that you are opted out, and politely ask them what the heck they're up to.

Did you ever have a car loan with GMAC? (forerunner of Ally)

No. Only Toyota.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

Open123 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:51:00 GMT

bichonmom wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:
Open123 wrote:
Hm, about 6 months?
OK, that's worth a call.

Is your CL over $5K?

Back when all this Siggy/ World stuff started, 3 years or so ago, and none reported limits, and they just up and did it, there was huge speculation as to why banks would suddenly upgrade cards without running it by the cardholders.

It appears that the banks make more off of a Siggy/World swipe than from a standard card.

Maybe BofA, in its endless shaking of the money tree, has decided to automatically upgrade all the accounts of consumers that it semi-trusts, in hopes of generating higher transaction fees??

I don't quite understand how this relates to Ally softing a CR.

I don't have Ally.

I haven't received a CL from them or BofA. I'm opted out, but did notice a soft from them on Ex. My initial thought was maybe it was someone trying to open a deposit account with m information that required an ID check.

Re: ALLY is creeping me out!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:55:16 GMT

Open123 wrote:
bichonmom wrote:
haulingthescoreup wrote:
Open123 wrote:
Hm, about 6 months?
OK, that's worth a call.

Is your CL over $5K?

Back when all this Siggy/ World stuff started, 3 years or so ago, and none reported limits, and they just up and did it, there was huge speculation as to why banks would suddenly upgrade cards without running it by the cardholders.

It appears that the banks make more off of a Siggy/World swipe than from a standard card.

Maybe BofA, in its endless shaking of the money tree, has decided to automatically upgrade all the accounts of consumers that it semi-trusts, in hopes of generating higher transaction fees??

I don't quite understand how this relates to Ally softing a CR.

I don't have Ally.

I haven't received a CL from them or BofA. I'm opted out, but did notice a soft from them on Ex. My initial thought was maybe it was someone trying to open a deposit account with m information that required an ID check.

My bad, I apologize. I replied to a different thread here, and wasted 15 minutes trying to make the strike-through function work.

I would definitely call Ally and ask them why they're softing you. If you didn't have an account with GMAC or any of the banks that they've absorbed, I don't see how they can soft you when you're opted out.