topic Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased in Understanding FICO® Scoring

AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

MartinHugo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:25:33 GMT

I am currently using verizon as a wireless service, a few days ago i got a at&t service and today I got an alert about AT&T mobility inquiry which decreased my score by 11 points. is this the way it works? why my score decreased base in add a cellphone service? PLease help

Martin

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:05:47 GMT

If they did a "hard" pull of your credit report, this will affect your score. Normally utilities and phone service (cell included) so "soft" pulls which do not affect score.

But, AT&T may have a different policy than others.

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:27:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If they did a "hard" pull of your credit report, this will affect your score. Normally utilities and phone service (cell included) so "soft" pulls which do not affect score.

But, AT&T may have a different policy than others.

as a matter of fact AT&T pulled a hard inquiry on me too

July 11, 2008 At&T-Ws

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

MartinHugo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:30:06 GMT

11 points for just getting a cellphone is unfair! I am not even sure if I want to keep the service, this was a "test" so i can compare verizon with AT&T! anything I could do to get those points back. Whats a soft pull and hard pull?

thanks

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

llecs — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:38:37 GMT

MartinHugo wrote:

11 points for just getting a cellphone is unfair! I am not even sure if I want to keep the service, this was a "test" so i can compare verizon with AT&T! anything I could do to get those points back. Whats a soft pull and hard pull?

thanks

Where did you pull your credit score from?

There are two types of inquiries: soft and hard. Hard inquiries can ding your credit if you have high FICO scores and only impact your credit for a max of 12 months.

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

laz98 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:26:48 GMT

yep, at&t did a hard pull on my experian when we connected our u-verse service recently.

definitely don't need any more #$^$%&#%^* inquiries there!!!

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

MartinHugo — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:10:17 GMT

I did not pull my score from anywhere, I just got a alert from Fico about the pull from AT&T and it says my score went down 11 points.

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:48:07 GMT

The "reasons" on the SW alerts often have nothing to do with the actual cause of score changes, either upward or downward. I've gotten reasons that were completely false, such as that I "might" have gotten a new late. Heart attack time, but it wasn't true.

The only way you can know for sure what did it is to compare the previous report to the report that would come with this score, if you wish to buy it. (Remember that it is discounted for SW subscribers.)

Most likely, it's a combo of things --maybe you lost 4 points for the inquiry, and 10 points for higher balances, but gained 3 points for an account hitting a year old, for a net drop of 11 points. (These numbers are completely pulled out of thin air, and only used as examples.)

Re: AT&T MOBILITY inquiry! 11 points decreased

llecs — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:36:33 GMT

Ditto to Hauling. Here's one of many favorites:

llecs,

"There are a few changes to your credit report today:
• An account shows a balance increase.

Also, your FICO® score has increased by 8"

Now we know that my CC balances increasing didn't increase my score, but rather other stuff happening. I have another where I got a 20 point increase due to an added inquiry. Obviously not true.