Preapproval Hard Inquiry ~ FURIOUS

[Anonymous]

I understand your point, but first, this is obviously not going to be tried in a court of law. Regarding the recording, I am fairly certain that they will admit the error of the associate once they review the call. My dilemma is getting them to remove the inquiry, not whether they admit their CSR is guilty of dispensing inaccurate info that caused me to enter in to a contract which terms were deceptive. Probably it will result in a disputed with credit bureau is BBB complaint, but I still have to see if approved for the card or not given I have this limbo period to wait out.

[iced]

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I understand your point, but first, this is obviously not going to be tried in a court of law. Regarding the recording, I am fairly certain that they will admit the error of the associate once they review the call. My dilemma is getting them to remove the inquiry, not whether they admit their CSR is guilty of dispensing inaccurate info that caused me to enter in to a contract which terms were deceptive. Probably it will result in a disputed with credit bureau is BBB complaint, but I still have to see if approved for the card or not given I have this limbo period to wait out.

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Indirectly, what I was trying to suggest is that you don't have any recourse to force them to remove the inquiry except for legal action or legitimate threat thereof. If you talk to them nicely (which sounds like you may have tried) and they agreed to remove it, great, but if they do they did that out of the goodness of their heart.

There isn't some hidden magic trick to force it off your report. Either they choose to remove it or you convince a legal authority to force them to remove it. If you dispute with the bureaus, the bank can just reiterate to the bureaus that they made the hard inquiry and now you have a dispute mark on top of things. Complaining to the BBB is also tossing a dart at a dartboard while blindfolded - the BBB has no authority to force them to remove it either, so you're banking on the court of public opinion getting them to change. So many people lob complaints to the BBB in this day and age that you may be lost in all the noise and the bank will simply ignore it.

It's not what you want to hear, but honestly your best course of action after asking them to remove it is to let it go and move on. Hard pulls weigh very little and it has limited impact after 6 months and no impact after 12 months to my knowledge.

[Anonymous]

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I guess go down the BBB route for starters and see what that does for you.  You were approved for the card though, right?  If you were, I honestly wouldn't make a fuss about it, because as you stated previously you're well aware that credit apps result in HPs.  It sounds like you were sort of preying on ignorance here, which really isn't something to get worked up about if it doesn't work out.  It's like if on Pay Day you saw that your direct deposit for some reason went into your bank account twice.  You know that's not right, so you call your employer and he looks into it and says "nope, everything looks fine on our end..."  Then a few days later he contacts you and says that he does realize there's an error and will need to take back the double-payment.  You can't get mad over that, as you knew from the very start what was right and what was wrong.  Again, assuming you were approved for the product here, stirring the pot may end up getting your account flagged in some way shape or form, which could end up biting you in the rear at some point down the line.  Just something to consider, as inquiries are the least impactful part of one's credit score.

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I agree 1000%. He knew darn well that credit card applications give a hard pull 99% of the time. It feels like trying to play the system. You applied for a product, take the **bleep** hard pull. This wouldn’t be the first time a rep on the phone had no clue what was going on. Human error. Enjoy the card and the hard pull means nothing.

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Your gifts of perception and insight are sorely lacking. First of all, I am not a "he." Second, I clearly asked, more than once, during the course of the call whether or not there would be a hard inquiry, and I was repeatedly told no. In addition, the mailer I received states that "Preapproval is based on Bank of the West underwriting. Verification MAY be required." Not "WILL" be required. And since your attention to detail is clearly amiss, you did not read my previous statement that the process for approval was not immediate, and I still do not know if I am approved despite the preapproval received. Lastly, why am I being raked over the coals in this thread and interrogated about my knowldege or lack of knowledge regarding credit applications, when a paid employee of a financial institution, an employee who is paid to process credit applications and understand the terms of the application, made such a gross error? It is not my knowledge that should be under scrutiny, and Bank of the West is ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees. 

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And you are under an obligation to read or know the fine print. It’s right on their website about this topic. So you didn’t go in and read the part about all credit applications result in an inquiry of your credit? Oh that’s right you can’t be bothered to read the fine print. That’s what holds up in a court of law. You may be able to get it removed and it doesn’t hurt to try. But you also may not. And showing this much outrage when you know every application for credit can and almost always does result in a hard pull. Now if you would have gotten a written offer for no HP credit application you would have had a solid reason. This isn’t the first time in here someone has been fed horrid info by unimformed workers.

[Remedios]

Why are you being so snarky with her?
Most of the posters here who have a lot more experience and knowledge show a great amount of patience with us newbs, explaining and guiding. OP took somebody's word as a fact and it did not work out as she expected. She wants it removed. Nothing illegal, nothing "working the system" and certainly nothing to warrant responses you're giving her.

[Anonymous]

Because this topic has been answered over and over. And all it took was a quick look to the web sight  to see that all credit applications incur a hard inquiry. But people don’t want to accept this. And in her original statements she said she knows that credit applications result in a hard inquiry. I am always brutally honest in here. And many people have said yes there are some uniformed workers. She came across one. And people including me have said you can certainly dispute citing these reasons. It may or may not work. And some have said recorded would help in that. But knowing the laws and how applications are done, is what matters. If she didn’t understand the law it’s one thing. This isn’t the case.

[Remedios]

The topic is over and closed when a mod says so.
I suspect that might be soon

[Anonymous]

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On a related topic, what is the difference in data on a soft pull vs. hard pull? 

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A soft pull doesn’t affect ones credit. It’s looking at your credit for things like preapprovals as an example. When one applies for credit it shows up on your credit file and dings ones score 0 to maybe 10 points each time a company looks at it to hand out a loan of some type. Besides that the only difference is where it ends up on ones report. A section everyone sees or one only you can see on your report.

[Anonymous]

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Another example, one might be applying for a loan over the phone and within the application, the CSR informs consumer interest rate is 1.0%. If consumer agrees and assumes loan and finds out later that the rate is 18% and complains that an agreement was entered based on the misinformation of the CSR, the question would not be how knowldgeable the consumer was about interest rates prior to entering such agreement. The bank would have to either honor the 1% rate or allow the consumer to withdraw from contract without penalty. 

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You see, this IMO is another example of an attempt to prey on the CSR in hopes to game the system.  Everyone on the planet knows that a 1% interest rate is a fantasy.  You know that, the same way you know (and knew) that credit applications result in HPs ("rarely" do they not, in your own words).  It would be like if you asked a CSR what your SL would be for a product if approved and they told you $100k.  You and I and everyone on this forum knows you aren't going to get a $100k SL.  So, when you're approved for just $5k (or whatever is reasonable/realistic for your profile) it's ridiculous to say, "well the CSR said $100k!" when everyone knows that's false information.  Again, I get the principle of being told one thing and finding out another... but when you are told something that is obviously (or should obviously be) false, you as the customer need to act accordingly.  If you walk into a Rolls-Royce dealership and ask how much their top of the line product is and they tell you $10k, do you really think there's any recourse when they sit down to do the paperwork with you and you see that it's not?  I think the OP should consider looking at this situation from a different angle, which I understand is difficult when you're already [adversely] emotionally invested.  I think the overall opinions of this thread though (of people that aren't emotionally invested) are quite telling.

[Anonymous]

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The topic is over and closed when a mod says so.
I suspect that might be soon

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You’re correct.  Time to move on folks.  This thread is locked and while we certainly can disagree with posters and give appropriate answers to why they might be wrong in their thinking, it must be done in a polite way.  This is especially true for new posters.  Far too often new posters come here and never return because of the way long time forum members respond to them.  We must always adhere to forum posting guidelines outlined in Friendly, Supportive and Respectful.  The OP isn’t the first nor will be the last to think that an application would result in a SP because of what a misinformed CSR told them.  That doesn’t mean they were being deceptive or trying to game the system.

To @Anonymous I hope that you are successful in getting the HP removed thru the avenues outlined in this thread.  Remind Bank of the West that it is very easy for them to recode an HP as an SP.  If ultimately you aren’t successful, try not to be too upset because the effects of an HP on your credit are minimal at best and are temporary.  Good luck.  If you have any questions about this thread or any forum matter you can reach me or any other Moderator via the PM system.