Shady dealer pulled my credit

[Anonymous]

I'm shopping around for a car, and went in to a Toyota dealership for a test drive. I've been to this particular dealer in the past and have found them to be everything that everyone hates about car dealerships, but they had a car I was interested in so I sucked it up. Afterwards we discussed numbers on the vehicle, my trade in, and rates. They kept telling me they couldn't promise me the 3.49% I was asking about until they pulled my credit. I told them repeatedly that I knew my Beacon was above 760, and that they were not to pull my credit until we had come to an acceptable deal on the car and my trade in. Ultimately, after an hour and a half of negotiation and telling them I wanted to leave and think things over half a dozen times I finally got out of there.

It occured to me the next day that I should backdoor my Equifax report (that's who Toyota pulls) and make sure I didn't have any inquiries. Lo and behold, they'd pulled my credit. I called and they acted shocked, and then called back and made excuses, all the while still trying to close a deal with me. What can I do to get the inquiry removed? Do I need to have them call or write Equifax? Do I have any recourse against the dealership?

[guiness56]

I am wondering how you can make any deals and go over numbers without having them pull your credit first.  

If you search the forum you will find a non-pp letter.

With that said, any pulls for an autoloan in a specific amount of time (it used to be 14 days) are only looked at by FICO as one inquiry.

[Anonymous]

They were offering a 3.49% rate for Beacon scores over 740. I pulled my EQ from myFico the day I went in at 767 and told them my scores would qualify me. We were trying to come to an agreement on purchase price for the car and trade in value of my car. We hadn't come to an agreement yet, so we hadn't even calculated a payment based on that rate yet. I left having not agreed to anything.

It's been 5 days since the inquiry, and I don't necessarily plan on buying a car in the next 9 days, and definitely not from that dealer. I'm worried about the effect the inquiry has already had on my score should I choose to apply for credit with another dealership. I'd prefer just telling them to remove it (as I said, they were all apologies and "shock" that it had accidentally been pulled) rather than sending them the non-PP letter. If I ask them to remove it, and they tell me they can't, what should be my response? Obviously they can, or the non-PP letter wouldn't even be an option, right? Do they have to call or write to Equifax to have it removed?

[Anonymous]

You can file a dispute online or send a non pp letter. How did they get your ssn?

[Anonymous]

You really don't need an SSN to pull credit. They had my name and address from taking a copy of my drivers license to test drive the vehicle.

[guiness56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You can file a dispute online or send a non pp letter. How did they get your ssn?

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You can not get a inquiry deleted by disputing.  Very seldom will it work.  Send the non-pp letter.

[guiness56]

You would need to send a non-pp letter to the dealership.  Search the forums for one.  You could also ask them to recode it as a soft.

They have to contact the CRA.

[fused]

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@guiness56 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

You can file a dispute online or send a non pp letter. How did they get your ssn?

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You can not get a inquiry deleted by disputing.  Very seldom will it work.  Send the non-pp letter.

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Very true, Guiness! The non-pp letter is the way to go.

[MarineVietVet]

For any newcomers reading this a non-pp stands for "Non Permissible Purpose".

Here are some often used Abbreviations.

From a BK years ago to:

9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[RobertEG]

Clearly, you never signed anything that would qualtify as a business transaction initiated by the consumer, So they could not make a permissible pull under FCRA 604(a)(3)(F), but that is probably not what they will assert as their basis.

Here is what they will probaBLY throw at you, and what you will have to argue against as their permissible pull authority:

FCRA 604(a)(3)(A):

"... any consumer reportiing agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances, and no other......

   (3)(A) To a person which it has reason to believe intends to use the information in connection with a credit transaction involving the

               consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account,

               of the consumer."

You can argue that unless you gave specific, written authorization for a credit pull, it was not "in connnection with a credit transaction" involving you, so was unauthorized.  I wont speculate on the legality of what they did, and wish you well in your dispute.  Just be prepared to address FCRA 604(a)(3)(A).

The essential problem with disputing credit inquiries is that the FCRA never uses the terms hard or soft pull, and how a creditor codes an inquiry is totally up to them.  It is not an issue that the CRAs consider as a dspute under the FCRA, unless the credtor was flat-out fraudulent in accessing your CR for any legitimate reason.set forth under the myriad of provisions of FCRA 604.