topic Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report? in Rebuilding Your Credit

When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:52:00 GMT

Obviously I understand that anytime I apply for credit, the lender can pull my credit report in order to make their decision.

However, outside of applications for new credit, when can a lender inquire about my credit report? I received notice this morning that a lender pulled my credit and it's showing as a hard inquiry on my Experian and TransUnion report and I have serious questions about whether or not this was allowed.

Can someone outline the permissible reasons or point me in the direction of where I can find this information in an easily understandable format?

Thanks!

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:07:30 GMT

Bump

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

laz98 — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:22:20 GMT

did you ask for a CLI on a CC? usually places will soft pull your reports, but some are punks & do a hard pull instead. WFNNB does this a lot (to me at least).

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:41:22 GMT

No, there are two recent actions that have happened with this creditor. It was VW Credit and it was for a lease that ended in April.

1) I requested a GW deletion of a 30-day from last year and;

2) I have a $ balance (went over allotted mileage) from my lease termination and rather than pay it in full, I asked for a payment plann; HOWEVER, they happily agreed to the payment plan over the phone on the spot and there was no indication that a credit check would be done or that credit-worthiness was a factor - it's just a payment plan for the balance of the over-mileage fees.

Are either of these legit? I actually tend to think the credit pull was a result of the GW letter because I actually agreed to the payment plan almost 4 weeks ago but I send the GW letters last week and the inquiry was yesterday.

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

laz98 — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:47:33 GMT

i'm guessing the GW too. technically, they can pull your credit whenever they want, but they don't usually do hard inquiries. i don't think you can really dispute it.

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:20:20 GMT

So they can pull my credit even if my account is technically closed with them? I mean, the lease is finished and the account is closed, I simply owe a little $ for the over-mileage fees. The payment plan was suggested in their final bill to me and it appears to be something they do all the time so it's not like they made some crazy, special exception for me.

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:26:23 GMT

Any time you have a relationship with a creditor or are trying to establish one, they can pull your credit any time they want, as many times as they want. No way to dispute it. They may agree to delete (or recode as soft) if you ask. Freezing may limit/eliminate their ability to pull hard in the future.

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

laz98 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:45:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So they can pull my credit even if my account is technically closed with them? I mean, the lease is finished and the account is closed, I simply owe a little $ for the over-mileage fees. The payment plan was suggested in their final bill to me and it appears to be something they do all the time so it's not like they made some crazy, special exception for me.

you still owe them money, though, so i would say yes, they have permission to pull your reports. they wanna know why you wanted a payment plan, maybe.

Re: When can a lender put a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:44:24 GMT

@laz98 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
So they can pull my credit even if my account is technically closed with them? I mean, the lease is finished and the account is closed, I simply owe a little $ for the over-mileage fees. The payment plan was suggested in their final bill to me and it appears to be something they do all the time so it's not like they made some crazy, special exception for me.
you still owe them money, though, so i would say yes, they have permission to pull your reports. they wanna know why you wanted a payment plan, maybe.

Ditto

I applied for a mortgage and closed in May. The lender pulled my report again in July. Go figure. I think they do that to look at your finances and make sure you're still "creditworthy".