Bank Of America Verbage on Prequals

[Anonymous]

My experience has always been that it just shows you whatever card you checked interest in. I did however, get a legit prequal (for their secured card lol) once. I know it was legit because they sent me letters every other day for about a month or so to complete my application. So it does work on occasion

[ChargedUp]

I don't think NRB meant to be as harsh as he may have sounded. While BoA does kind of give their CC site a feel of leading you towards something they are predicting you would qualify for, it's truly just leading you to cold app for a card that fits what you're looking for from their in house offering of rewards, BT's, low APR, etc.

If you get the pre-qualified mailers from BoA, those would mean more, but not by much. (I *did* app for my AAA Rewards from a mailer though FWIW.)

[Anonymous]

The Credit Doctor website actually lists the BOA website as a prequalification link along with Chase and all the other bank prequal links.

FYI

[Anonymous]

I think that them asking for your personal info leads one to believe that it's a prequal page. They can recommend a travel card based on your interest in one without knowing who you are. I don't know why they even ask for all of that if they aren't using it to show you things that you qualify for. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Im of the mind that it is "their" prequal site even if it doesnt say it. Saying customized offers can be misleading to some but its possible by filling in the info and checking, their algorhythms pick this up and then start sending your offers based on what you were looking at. As pointed out , many view this as the site to check your Boa prequal even if we know its not 100% accurate

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Oh,
excuse me sir for my mistake !

I was just asking a simple question. Geeez
I have been told that this was a prequal site for BOA !

Thanks for putting in your 2 cents.

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With credti applications, with credit contracts, it is important for the individual ( you for your portfolio, me for my portfolio ) to actually read the contract language that we are agreeing to. This includes looking closely at the marketing or web site language, to understand what is being offered to us.

My point is, on those web lnks that one follows to find BofA cards, the indications are pretty clear it is just customized offers, not prequalifications.

[TiggerDat]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I think that them asking for your personal info leads one to believe that it's a prequal page. They can recommend a travel card based on your interest in one without knowing who you are. I don't know why they even ask for all of that if they aren't using it to show you things that you qualify for. 

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Yes, I also believe people could be misled because they ask for your personal information, including at least part of your SS#.  REGARDLESS OF THE WORDING, I think people could be misled!  Some people might simply conclude after the input of information and a recommendation that indeed they did check to see if there was an offer or other prequalificaton.  You give them information, you expect they are using that information!  Years ago I checked the site to see how it really worked out and then I could not find any clear wording that they did not check your credit report in order to give you a recommendation.  I searched every bit of fine print at the time and was not able to truly determine if it was a real prequal.  I had to actually chat with them to find out that indeed no credit report was pulled.  Their wording did mention a credit report being pulled, but it did so in such a way that you could deduce for the prequal that it was possible they were doing so.

I have no idea why BofA does what they do, but they do it none-the-less, regardless of how customers react when or if they find out the truth.  IMHO I think they don't care if they scare off the people who app'd and didn't qualify for a card, as they don't seem to cater to those individuals anyway.  They want people who will pay them fees, they do not have a free checking account to draw in consumers who are conscious of money savings or may not have enough to meet the waiving requirements.  I would have to check and see if they have ever been in trouble for unethical business practices involved with any aspect of banking such as mortgage robo signing or misleading practices of any nature to know if they are a trustworthy bank.