topic Re: Comcast Sneak Attack in General Credit Topics

Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 21:10:36 GMT

I am moving units within the same apartment building, and called Comcast to switch my service to the new unit. The customer care representative assured me she could get me a great new deal, I just needed to sign a form to sign up for the new service -- even though I already had an account with them.

Two days later -- BOOM -- MyFico score alert: my score dropped 10 points because of a hard inquiry from Comcast! Can I disupte an inquiry? I simply would have declined their new deal if I knew they were going to hit my credit with a hard inquiry, What's the best way to go about disputing this?

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 21:25:26 GMT

I didn't know they did this. But I'm not suprissed. Comcast sucks worse than ATT. I would take this as a life lesson, pull the plug and get an hbo now subscription and an appletv.

ps both my mom and dad are cougs.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 21:27:21 GMT

we_can_help@cable.comcast.com

Coporate Email

If you already had service and were just transfering with in the same community they should not have hit you with a hard inq. If your payment history has been good, it should have just been transfered with out the hard inq. They should have offered a deposit instead of a credit pull if need be.

I would email the corporate office and inq if they can delete the inq as you, were not offered a deposit and not infomred of a credit pull.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

RobertEG — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 21:51:09 GMT

The key is their offer of a "new deal."

By agreeing, you technically initiated a request for a business transaction.

Consumer-initiated business transactions, even if they do not involve extension of credit, give rise to a permissible purpose under FCRA 604 to pull your credit report if they can substantiate any reasonable business need to review your current credit.

They had permissible purpose.

If you feel that it should have been coded as a soft pull, by all means, call and request a change in coding.

They cannot "delete"" and inquiry, as the cat is out of the proverbial bag.... they received your credit report with legitimate purpose.

However, in my opinion, it is not disputable.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Existentialist — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 22:55:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
we_can_help@cable.comcast.com
Coporate Email

If you already had service and were just transfering with in the same community they should not have hit you with a hard inq. If your payment history has been good, it should have just been transfered with out the hard inq. They should have offered a deposit instead of a credit pull if need be.

I would email the corporate office and inq if they can delete the inq as you, were not offered a deposit and not infomred of a credit pull.

~~First doublecheck the new agreement they wanted U to sign to see if theres anything re: a credit check. Hope U can resolve.~~

EDITED: Oops.... didnt see above post which is 100% correct. New deal = permissable purpose = done deal. U may still dispute for peace of mind but legally they hav no obligation to remove.... sorry.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 22:29:18 GMT

Cant dispute you agreed to a new deal. No do overs.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 23:16:42 GMT

This must vary by state. I switched to Comcast from Centurylink recently and didn't get any hard pulls for it.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Girac — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 00:42:14 GMT

Several years ago I called Geico inc for a quote, yea a quote and they went and did a hard pull.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

takeshi74 — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:12:06 GMT

Credit is used by insurance companies as well to determine premiums. HP's have a small impact that tapers off quickly and falls off in 2 years. 10 points IMO isn't worth worrying over. Comcast did have permissible purpose indicated by the new deal and new service. For a straight transfer without the deal an HP would have not been performed.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Kirmie2010 — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:51:01 GMT

Yeah comcast HPs with new accounts.

You signed and agreed, I dont think there is anything you can do.

If its disputed what would be the basis for disputing? Didnt read the paper?

Id go with above poster, consider it a life lesson, sucks but not much you can do about it =/

*edit* left window open too long sorry! already had a bunch of replys

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

MidnightVoice — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 14:01:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Comcast sucks worse than ATT.

Cue my AT&T/Cingular rant about imqus

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

krielly — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 18:32:18 GMT

I agree with others that you may be stuck with the inquiry, as this was a "new" account (in order to qualify for better service pricing)........that being said, i see absolutely NOTHING to lose by asking them to recode it to a soft...the worst they'll say is no...........and you are in no worse of a position. Good luck!

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:56:44 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
Credit is used by insurance companies as well to determine premiums. HP's have a small impact that tapers off quickly and falls off in 2 years. 10 points IMO isn't worth worrying over. Comcast did have permissible purpose indicated by the new deal and new service. For a straight transfer without the deal an HP would have not been performed.

^^^^^ +1

Exactly.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:46:39 GMT

I work for Comcast in Michigan.

This is completely normal, when you inquire about new service, it is always a HP.

We can bypass the credit check screen, but we can get in serious trouble for doing this in some cases.

Also, if you're moving house/ had a recent account with no debt, we can bypass it too.

Only other option is not giving them your SSN and then a refundable deposit is automatically applied.

It is worth it in my opinion, your SSN is not in their system and you get it back in full after 12 months.

ATT did this to me too, it seems like standard practice with companies like this, and why would you be surprised?

They want to make sure you're going to pay your bill. At least 30% of customers I see everyday have a 'past due' balance or have their services completely shut off.

HP's put a very small 'dink' in your credit score. It will be back to normal in another few months.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Callandra — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 20:06:34 GMT

It's not really disputable since you technically agreed to a new account (but yes, it was sneaky of them to do that; my guess is that the CSRs get something for new accounts) but I would still complain to the EO and say you just wanted to change your address and you were "tricked" into getting a new service. Maybe they'll remove it out of goodwill.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 16:08:55 GMT

I had a similar issue come up with Centrylink and I sent their office a certified letter requesting that they remove their hard inquiry because I did not authorize or know they were going to pull CR. In my case, I had a door to door salesman come to my door offering me a fantastic deal and then asked me to give my SSN# to some guy over the phone for authorization. Um no. I immediatly pulled the plug. A few months later, I pulled my credit report and saw a hard Inquiry. I had no idea that a company could pull your report WITHOUT your SSN, but apparently they can. Anyway, long story short, I asked them to remove the inquiry because I didn't know or authorize it and they did. Now mine might have worked, because I did not get the service, but it might work if you tell them you honestly didn't know they were going to do the HP. As long as you're honest, it doesn't hurt to ask IMHO.

Re: Comcast Sneak Attack

SOGGIE — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 19:13:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
we_can_help@cable.comcast.com
Coporate Email

If you already had service and were just transfering with in the same community they should not have hit you with a hard inq. If your payment history has been good, it should have just been transfered with out the hard inq. They should have offered a deposit instead of a credit pull if need be.

I would email the corporate office and inq if they can delete the inq as you, were not offered a deposit and not infomred of a credit pull.

Fully agree. The credit inquiry was for a product change (service plan). They neglected to inform you that this would require a credit check and seek your approval for such.