Question regarding an inquiry

Anonymous · ‎03-06-2012

About a month ago, I was looking around the prices for internet services. I was looking at the prices through Comcast.com. I found the service that I wanted and proceeded into the check out process. It asked for the basic information (Social, Name etc).

Right before processing the order, I noticed that the service that I was about to sign up for was much higher than what the promotion had. So I clicked on the CANCEL button and left the site.

Fast forward to today, I have an inquiry on my Equifax report. I never clicked on submit, as a matter of fact there was not even an authorization option that said that I gave Comcast persmission to pull my reports up. Any suggestions guys? If I dispute the hard pull, do you think It will be removed? Suggestions guys???

bichonmom · ‎03-06-2012

Getting an inq off is really hard, even if it shouldn't be there. REALLY hard.

Call Comcast. You'll need to talk to someone in their corporate office, or something. The regular CSRs won't be able to help you at all. You may need to explain what happened until you will hopefully find the right dept/person to help you. With a company like Comcast, I don't even know where you would start, frankly. You might also go to your local Comcast office and see who they tell you to talk with.

You might start with the number on this page: http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/account/comcast-corporate-offices/

Comcast corporate headquarters are located at:

One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-286-1700

I can tell you this: You CANNOT dispute an inq with the CRBs. They just don't do it. They will ONLY remove an inquiry if the company who made it tells them to remove it.

You may find that someone at Comcast who doesn't know what they're talking about will tell you to dispute it with EQ. This isn't true. If you call EQ, you'll find that out for yourself. (If you want to call EQ, look for the backdoor sticky number.)

I was able to get an unauthorized inq off a CR, but it took numerous phone calls and several months and I ended up having to fax a letter to the CCC and TU, to finally get it removed. And all that was with the CCC acknowledging that they had made the inq in error. You'd think with them in agreement, it would be a piece of cake, and it wasn't.

EQ FICO 750 | TU FICO 761 (Walmart) | EX FAKO 767 | Goal: 800+

Edits, funky spacing and spelling due to my iPad not getting along with the forum editor!

trumpet-205 · ‎03-06-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
About a month ago, I was looking around the prices for internet services. I was looking at the prices through Comcast.com. I found the service that I wanted and proceeded into the check out process. It asked for the basic information (Social, Name etc).

Right before processing the order, I noticed that the service that I was about to sign up for was much higher than what the promotion had. So I clicked on the CANCEL button and left the site.

Fast forward to today, I have an inquiry on my Equifax report. I never clicked on submit, as a matter of fact there was not even an authorization option that said that I gave Comcast persmission to pull my reports up. Any suggestions guys? If I dispute the hard pull, do you think It will be removed? Suggestions guys???

Comcast definitely put up a notice that authorizes them to pull your credit report during that online process. It is probably either hidden in one of those long "blah" "blah" agreements you were supposed to read. 99% subscribed monthly service providers will pull your CR for the purpose of determining monthly price and to make sure you won't default (ie unable to pay) their monthly service. They do this because of 12 or 24 years commitment (to recover high initial set up cost).

I think the best you can do is to write a good will letter asking them to remove that hard pull. They are not obligated to remove it.

Anonymous · ‎03-07-2012

Dish Network did a hard pull on my credit in May 2011 when applying for service. I didn't apply online. I applied through calling their customer service and I don't remember authorizing it even though they probably mentioned it at some point in time. Fortunately, I only had 2 other inquiries this year and it will be over a year old in a few months.

Anonymous · ‎03-07-2012

You can also go to the Equifax website and open an online dispute, they pull up all of your inquiries and you can dispute it for whatever reason it may be, i.e. "unauthorized." Although, don't cross your fingers. I have done this TWICE, and both times they left the inquiry on my report.

bichonmom · ‎03-07-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
You can also go to the Equifax website and open an online dispute, they pull up all of your inquiries and you can dispute it for whatever reason it may be, i.e. "unauthorized." Although, don't cross your fingers. I have done this TWICE, and both times they left the inquiry on my report.

That is because the CRBs will not remove an inq from your CR unless the OC who did the HP tells them to remove it. It may not be fair, but it is the reality.

EQ FICO 750 | TU FICO 761 (Walmart) | EX FAKO 767 | Goal: 800+

Edits, funky spacing and spelling due to my iPad not getting along with the forum editor!

mxp114 · ‎03-07-2012

Yeah don't use the misleading EQ online INQ dispute option, they come back verified AND they add a 7 year Fraud Alert to your file without a phone number. Thus you then need to fax in documentation to prove who you are to delete it or add a number. Best advice? Freeze all three, that way no surprises and you're in control.

LS2982 · ‎03-07-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
About a month ago, I was looking around the prices for internet services. I was looking at the prices through Comcast.com. I found the service that I wanted and proceeded into the check out process. It asked for the basic information (Social, Name etc).

Right before processing the order, I noticed that the service that I was about to sign up for was much higher than what the promotion had. So I clicked on the CANCEL button and left the site.

Fast forward to today, I have an inquiry on my Equifax report. I never clicked on submit, as a matter of fact there was not even an authorization option that said that I gave Comcast persmission to pull my reports up. Any suggestions guys? If I dispute the hard pull, do you think It will be removed? Suggestions guys???

I think so, you should deal with this from comcast first, and if no dice take it the EQ directly.

EQ FICO 548 3/3/16

LS2982 · ‎03-07-2012

@mxp114 wrote:
Yeah don't use the misleading EQ online INQ dispute option, they come back verified AND they add a 7 year Fraud Alert to your file without a phone number. Thus you then need to fax in documentation to prove who you are to delete it or add a number. Best advice? Freeze all three, that way no surprises and you're in control.

Big +1

EQ FICO 548 3/3/16

Anonymous · ‎03-07-2012

@LS2982 wrote:
@mxp114 wrote:
Yeah don't use the misleading EQ online INQ dispute option, they come back verified AND they add a 7 year Fraud Alert to your file without a phone number. Thus you then need to fax in documentation to prove who you are to delete it or add a number. Best advice? Freeze all three, that way no surprises and you're in control.
Big +1

I was pretty bummed to see that freezes apparently don't prevent hard pulls from supposed "investment companies", ie JDB. Also surprised to see that my CMS (USAA) also never emailed me to let me know about this new inquiry. Here I thought I took all the steps to prevent surprises like this.