Hard Pulls/Soft Pulls

smallfry · ‎10-09-2008

I have often wondered how much info a creditor can see with a soft pull. It seems they can pull a score with a soft pull. Happened to me today. Now if they can get a score with a soft why would they ever need to pull hard?

Anonymous · ‎10-09-2008

Thats a good question.

Anonymous · ‎10-09-2008

hstu summed it up like this (and i'm oversmiplifying and paraphrasing here).

lendors have the ability to check up on you and some may reward you w/offers, cli's etc..

some will do this w/o a hard inq, but most will do it w/the qualifier of a hard inq. they do this just to play by the rules of the game so that others will know that you have been busy.

again not ver batem, and she went into greater detail. a search should be able to dredge up her response.

smallfry · ‎10-09-2008

Hey ducky so now the CCC's are the inquiry police? Since they can get all they want with a soft pull then pulling a hard is just malicious.

My2cents · ‎10-09-2008

Smallfry-Exactly. CCC says if you want a cli on your terms, then it will cost you some fico pts. But if you let it happen on our terms then it want cost you any points.

That would be My2cents

700 Club Member

Anonymous · ‎10-09-2008

@smallfry wrote:
Hey ducky so now the CCC's are the inquiry police? Since they can get all they want with a soft pull then pulling a hard is just malicious.

in a nut shell. like i said she explained it far better than i.

jmbfl · ‎10-09-2008

Not all soft inquiries are the same. One type is provided to existing creditors for purposes of reviewing your credit. This type of soft inquiry pretty much gives them a full credit report. A prospective creditor can ask a CB for a list of individuals that meet certain criteria for marketing purposes. This type of soft inquiry provides virtually no details. A name, address and maybe a score. Then we have the situation where you are requesting credit. When you ask (apply) for credit it is totally legitimate for the credit grantor to pull a hard inquiry whether you already have an account with them or not. Those that pull a soft inquiry are doing you an enourmous favor, which they do not have to do. I assume this is a marketing policy decision - and a good one. You like them for it. They see the same information whether the inquiry is coded as hard or soft. If this inquiry is coded as a soft it is the same as an account review inquiry.

smallfry · ‎10-09-2008

@jmbfl wrote:
Not all soft inquiries are the same. One type is provided to existing creditors for purposes of reviewing your credit. This type of soft inquiry pretty much gives them a full credit report. A prospective creditor can ask a CB for a list of individuals that meet certain criteria for marketing purposes. This type of soft inquiry provides virtually no details. A name, address and maybe a score. Then we have the situation where you are requesting credit. When you ask (apply) for credit it is totally legitimate for the credit grantor to pull a hard inquiry whether you already have an account with them or not. Those that pull a soft inquiry are doing you an enourmous favor, which they do not have to do. I assume this is a marketing policy decision - and a good one. You like them for it. They see the same information whether the inquiry is coded as hard or soft. If this inquiry is coded as a soft it is the same as an account review inquiry.

My point. I am talking about an existing creditor pulling your report. Against my better judgment I called BofA to find out why they basically backed out of the deal the credit analyst gave me upon approval re: my rate of interest. I was told the rate the analyst told me I was receiving was reserved for 750 and over FICO scorers. He pulled a soft and told me my Experian score. I wasn't helped by the fact that my new car loan had already reported and since I haven't paid a dime yet it had tanked my scores nearly 20 points across the board. Point is he got my score with a soft pull. If BofA can do that they all can so as far as I am concerned no one needs to stick you with a hard pull.

tonsers · ‎10-10-2008

Hauling's post can be found here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&message.id=57017#M57017

smallfry · ‎10-10-2008

If the CCC found anything untoward and decided to pull a hard after pulling soft then both inquiries would appear on the report that they pulled. Or at least you could a while back. If they decided to pull hard after seeing something they didn't like it on the soft pull it further makes my point doesn't it?