What's visibly different from SP to HP?

Anonymous · ‎06-03-2016

I understand the difference between a SP and a HP. My question is what exactly is visible to a lender/creditor from a SP vs HP. I mean using a monitor service and/or checking your own info is only a SP, and you can see essentially everything... accounts, payment history, utilization, derogs, etc. what exactly does a HP offer in addition to that? I know on a full credit report you get more detailed information such as payment dates, amounts, etc. but I'm not sure what else it is that lendors/creditors are after that requires them to HP vs SP. Thank you.

RonM21 · ‎06-03-2016

I'm not sure how much,.if any difference there is in what they see. It may be more about the labeling of it, to show when someone is actually seeking credit.

Total CL: $321.7k

UTL: 2%

AAoA: 7.0yrs

Baddies: 0

Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

Berk · ‎06-03-2016

My understanding is that there is nothing visibly different on the report obtained. HPs generally occur when you are actively seeking credit and is a way for the lenders to let each other know. SPs generally are for informational purposes only. The same report is pulled with the exact same available information. The purpose is what makes it a HP vs a SP.

Anonymous · ‎06-03-2016

I guess I can understand that with respect to NEW credit, but for things like a CLI it seems odd to me that a creditor would feel the need to rock a HP over a SP if there wasn't any additional information they were able to obtain by taking the HP over the SP. You could be right, though.

Berk · ‎06-03-2016

Some lenders give CLIs with SPs and some with HPs. Their house their rules although it does chap my hind parts that I have to take HPs from Barclay and U.S. Bank for CLIs so I'm with you there.

RobertEG · ‎06-03-2016

The only type of inquiry that is specifically regulated under the FCRA as to what the inquiree sees and what is thereafter shown as a record of the inquiry in subsequent credit reports are the so-called "promotional inquires" (PRM) that are done under FCRA 604(c).

Those promotional inquiries are a procedure whereby a creditor can submit a set of criteria to a CRA and obtain a listing of consumers who meet the stated criteria.

That avoids the sending of thousands of offers to conssumer who will clearly not meet the creditor's reququriments. The inquiree cannot, under the FCRA, receive any account specific information with such an inquiry. They basiscally receive only a listing of consumer names and addresses. The FCRA additionaly specifies that the record of such inquiries cannot be shown in an credit reports provided to anyone other than the named consumer, which is the very definition of a "soft pull."

All other so-called soft pulls receive the same credit report content as any hard pull, with the only difference being that the CRA has an internal procedure that prevents the record of the inquriy from being shown in any credit report provided to anyone other than the named consumer. That includes parties who score credit reports, and thus these administrative soft pulls do not affect scoring.

The procedure by whidh a creditor can get an inquiry other than a promotional inquiry coded as soft is not set forth in the CRA reporting manual, as inquiries are not credit reportng. They are just the opposite...they are requests to see what others have reported. There is no publication accessible to the public which specifies how such soft pulls are administratively requested and accepted.

Anonymous · ‎06-04-2016

Can a creditor see with a soft pull exact payment dates and amounts? I know looking at reports from CK or CCT (maybe other monitoring services, too?) all you can see from month to month is the green "OK" if the payment was received on time or the delinquency. I know from obtaining my full credit reports that I can see dates and amounts which is something I don't see from monitoring services. I'm wondering if this is one of the differences between a SP and a HP. Does anyone know? Overall, it's not really a significant difference as it doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things.

I guess what I don't understand, if there is really no difference between a SP and HP (in terms of what's visible to the person looking) why some lenders have the protocol to do a HP for a current customer that's seeking a CLI. A CLI is not a request for "new credit" - I get it that it's a request for "more" credit, but that decision can certainly be made with the same information that's available from a SP. This, to me, is a bit puzzling.

RobertEG · ‎06-04-2016

Permissivle purpose under FCRA 604(a)(3)(A) is provided for a request by the consumer for "the extension of credit."

That includes initiating a request both from a new creditor and from an existing creditor.

Differences in what creditors see depends upon the degree of completeness of the report produced by the vendor, not any statutory or administrative restriction.

Some reports are more complete than others, not due to how the inquiry is coded, but simply how it is produced.

In theory, other an a promotional inquiry, one can make the argument that no other inquiries should arbitrarily, based on request of the inquiree, become excluded from view by others. The entire procedure as to how a given creditor can get their inquriy concealed from others is not detailed in any published documents.

There is, in my opinion, no basis for a given creditor to make their own determination of whether their inquriy should be hidden from others.

Berk · ‎06-04-2016

@Anonymous wrote:

A CLI is not a request for "new credit" - I get it that it's a request for "more" credit,...

Kinda like saying that an addition onto your house isn't a "new house" its just "more house." Yeah, but generally it is built with new building materials isn't it? That's the way additional credit works. It is more credit but it is new to that line.

Anonymous · ‎06-05-2016

I guess I just feel there should be consistency on this front.

The majority of HP's are requests for new credit. Generally speaking from what I've seen, CLI's come from SP's far more often than HP's. If HP's are an indication to future creditors/lenders that one is seeking new credit, it's not accurate for them to see HP's for CLI's as they aren't requests for NEW credit. All one is asking for is an assessment of their credit limit, and if it's deemed that it can be increased great. If not, it isn't. I personally don't see how that should result in a HP. Just my personal opinion.