I requested a CLI a little over a month ago and it was denied, but they did not do a hard pull. I specifically asked whether they were going to pull my credit reports before requesting the CLI. Just this month they initiated their own CLI. Not sure what changed between last month and this month, but I'll take the increase.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Ive requested a CLI a couple different times, on two different cards, and never received a hard pull.