Multiple Hits by the same creditor

[mtnaggie]

Greetings ~

I'm trying to get clarification on a multiple inquiry issue that I hope someone can answer. 

Lets say I have a Home Depot CC, and Home Depot is repeatedly pulling my credit monthly.  Does the scoring models consider a periodic look-see by an existing creditor a hard or soft hit?  Does it hurt me for Home Depot (or Sears, or my auto loan bank, etc.) to look at my credit monthly in relation to my existing debt with them?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Are they doing hard or soft pulls???...soft pulls don't matter one bit...and other creditor can't see soft pulls...only you....and the CRA

[mtnaggie]

How can I tell the difference between a hard or a soft pull?

[Anonymous]

if you mean account reviews no.

if you are asking them for more credit every month that generates (unless you ask for a guideline or soft pull cli, AND get a csr that knows what you are asking) a hard pull and yes it can hurt your score.

[mtnaggie]

So why would a creditor look at your credit monthly if you aren't asking for anything? 

O.K., let me add to this question.  What happens when my car loan bank periodically takes a peek at me CBR just to make sure I'm still doing good?

[Anonymous]

Depends on where your looking...in the hard printouts...I have only seem softs listed on EX reports...but the inquiries shown on myFICO...TC...are all hard pulls...

[Anonymous]

they use them to give increases, more product offers, or cut limits/cancel accounts, etc...

[mtnaggie]

So my bank can look at my credit whenever they want to, regardless of my payment history? 

I was mistakenly under the impression that if I had existing credit with a lender that they could look at us at their leisure without the inquiries hurting my score......??????

[Anonymous]

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mtnaggie wrote:

So my bank can look at my credit whenever they want to, regardless of my payment history? 

I was mistakenly under the impression that if I had existing credit with a lender that they could look at us at their leisure without the inquiries hurting my score......??????

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ya, an account review is a soft inq. doesn't hurt your score. the action they take based on what they see might though.

cld, rate jack, close account

or

lower rate if you rast, cli w/or w/o you rqsting it

[haulingthescoreup]

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@mtnaggie wrote:

So my bank can look at my credit whenever they want to, regardless of my payment history?

I was mistakenly under the impression that if I had existing credit with a lender that they could look at us at their leisure without the inquiries hurting my score......??????

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Where exactly are you seeing that they are checking your report?

If these are showing on your myFICO reports, or TrueCredit or other credit monitoring reports, these are hard inquiries and shouldn't have been made, since you are not seeking new credit with them. These can potentially hurt your score.

If you have pulled a full report directly from a credit bureau, paying about $9-10, or using your annual free report pull, you can see "soft" inquiries. They will be in the inquiries section, and they will be titled something like "Inquiries shared only with you." There are basically 3 types:

those that result from you pulling your own reports

those that are done by existing creditors for account maintenance or account review, to make sure that you're not getting into trouble elsewhere that might spill over on them, and

those that are for promotional purposes, where a creditor that you aren't with wants to see if they would like to offer you something.
(The promo ones only get your name and address. They can't look at everything, because you don't yet have a credit relationship with them.)

So these inquiries by your bank, car loan lender, etc., should ONLY be showing on the full reports, in the separate section, not on your myFICO reports or credit monitoring reports.