Preapprovals while Opting-Out, esp. Penfed & BofA

[llecs]

DW and I opted out of all 3 CRAs to prepare for a future mortgage pull (looking now). Once we close, then we have plans for some massive credit weeding (mass burial planned for Target, CapOne, and HSBC Discover for me and 3-4 for DW). We'll then add 1-2 each initially.

I know that since we opted-out, preapprovals are limited. I recall having a BofA preapproval and once the opt-out went into play, that preapproval disappeared. Will they come back? And for Penfed, I get no preapprovals at all. Never had any in the two years I have been with them. Will those appear if I opt back in? Same goes for Amex? Just curious. FTR, the only confirmed preapproval I ever received while opted out was a BB RZ MC. It came as an e-mail. They said I can take the app confirmation and can start using that card right away that day. I passed. DW is forever stuck at $500 I think.

[haulingthescoreup]

It took 5-6 weeks, as I recall, to start getting pre-approvals again after I opted back in.

And the pre-approvals always amaze me. I'm not pre-approved for Discover, and I'm not pre-approved for a second BofA. Sometimes I'll see an off for a Plat or Gold or Starwood AmEx when I log on to my AmEx home page, and other times there's nothing. I'm flooded with 4 pre-approvals from Citi per week. I get something from US Bank maybe once a quarter.

I have no clue.

[wmarat]

I opted out approximately 2 years ago.

I assume that PenFed's preapprovals are based on internal history and soft pulls. I got 2 pre approvals from PFCU inspite being opted out,

Amex sends me emails with pre approvals, mostly charge cards (I have AU account with them)

Chase sends me preapproval for Continantal Word MC every week.

CapOne used to send every other day (thanks G-d they stopped)

Citi has sent once or twice

BoA has never sent

[Anonymous]

Question... why does OPTOUT do anything with getting a mortgage?   I'm about to get a mortgage and I opted back in a year and a half ago.

I use the junk mail as a credit barometer.   When I was not on OPTOUT and I was trying my hand at building---I was getting the junk offers for the scam-artist buying clubs, and tons of First Premier and Credit One offers and some really horrible deals on auto insurance.  Now I am getting deluged with offers from Citi (5/6 offers A WEEK, and in July this year I got over 20 mailings from them!!!).    The insurance offers also improved from the sleazebag Claim-Denied insurance they sell to used-car buyers, to the big brand insurance (State Farm, AllState, Progressive, etc).

It seemed, at least to me, the magic number for the junk mail offers to switch from the sleazebag scam offers to the mainline offers was around FICO 680-720.   Below 680 all the junk mail was for scams and bad deals.   Above 720 the scam artist offers stared going down.

Above 750 I stopped getting scam-artist junk mail offers and now it's all mainline stuff.      I haven't get gone back on OPTOUT yet.  I won't do that until I get my mortgage and then once I do I will be in credit-gardening mode for a while, probably a couple of years.

And like you I probably will be culling some credit cards I don't need/want since I won't have much of a desire for new credit for quite a while, and the new mortgage will keep me out of the 800 Club for at least a year with the new account and 5/6 INQs.

I'm estimating the mortgage will cost about 20 points of damage up front, the INQs another 10... and I might lose some value by closing some cards for any lenders that look at OPEN-AAoA vs. total AAoA.    But the best time to bury a lot of credit cards is right after you get a mortgage, when you don't need every single FICO point you can get.

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

Once we close, then we have plans for some massive credit weeding (mass burial planned for Target, CapOne, and HSBC Discover for me and 3-4 for DW). We'll then add 1-2 each initially.

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I don't know anything about preapprovals while opted out (I still get loads of cc offers every week), but just one comment: It might be worth to hold on to that Target card for the 5% off you may get when using it in store from October on.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Question... why does OPTOUT do anything with getting a mortgage?   I'm about to get a mortgage and I opted back in a year and a half ago.

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I don't know why llecs opted out, but many people do so because the credit bureaus do a nice business in selling the names of people with new mortgage inquiries on their reports to collection agencies and zombie debt buyers. The assumption is that these fine bottom-feeders will look for anyone that they can slap a new delinquency on, in the belief that the consumer will do anything to pay them off so as not to jeopardize their mortgage app.

Isn't that lovely?

[llecs]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Question... why does OPTOUT do anything with getting a mortgage?   I'm about to get a mortgage and I opted back in a year and a half ago.

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I don't know why llecs opted out, but many people do so because the credit bureaus do a nice business in selling the names of people with new mortgage inquiries on their reports to collection agencies and zombie debt buyers. The assumption is that these fine bottom-feeders will look for anyone that they can slap a new delinquency on, in the belief that the consumer will do anything to pay them off so as not to jeopardize their mortgage app.

Isn't that lovely?

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Exactly! Well put, Hauling. PhillyGuy, take a stroll over in mortgages consistently for a week or so and you'll see posts whereby the poster never opted out and was hit with a surprise CA coincidentally shortly after mortgage app time. In some cases, the CA has even told the debtor that they noticed they are applying for a mortgage. I came into these forums with a ton of debt and I still have some outstanding accounts out there that is past SOL, mostly past CRTP, but I never get any letters or calls. I don't want to take any chances.

[Anonymous]

I see... yes that makes sense if you fear collection activity coming out of the woodwork.

What I did was OPT-IN and did a LendingTree app a year ago to see if any of these companies would come out of the woodwork.   When I did that LANDSAFE showed up on my credit reports so that way it would fire off a mortgage trigger.   Then when none did I knew I was in the clear.

I wasn't sure if OPTOUT would protect me from a last minute CA, so I decided to just approach a mortgage lender for a pre-qual which caused a mortgage hard, figuring if I DID scare up a debt collector, I could lay low, try to get them to violate the FDCPA/FCRA, sue them and get to settlement in time to drop them off my reports before I'm shopping for a mortgage for real.

I called this a "Mortgage fake out" to game the system the CA's set up.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I see... yes that makes sense if you fear collection activity coming out of the woodwork.

What I did was OPT-IN and did a LendingTree app a year ago to see if any of these companies would come out of the woodwork.   When I did that LANDSAFE showed up on my credit reports so that way it would fire off a mortgage trigger.   Then when none did I knew I was in the clear.

I wasn't sure if OPTOUT would protect me from a last minute CA, so I decided to just approach a mortgage lender for a pre-qual which caused a mortgage hard, figuring if I DID scare up a debt collector, I could lay low, try to get them to violate the FDCPA/FCRA, sue them and get to settlement in time to drop them off my reports before I'm shopping for a mortgage for real.

I called this a "Mortgage fake out" to game the system the CA's set up.

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I like that game!