USAA Unathorizied Hard Inquiry

[hotpoint]

Hello all, I am a long time USAA member, and recently called to request a credit increase for my CC, was told it would be a soft pull. Today I pulled my Equifax and saw the Hard inquiry. I quickly called and was switched to the executive resolution dept. and was told it it surely a hard pull. I will dispute this and take it as high as possible. I was assured my efforts would be limited. I was told they will "speak with the rep., but no changes will be made to my report" so I have to love with this inquiry for two years because someone made a mistake ... Unfair. Any suggestions? HotPoint

[bichonmom]

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do. The bank has permissible purpose. CRAs will only remove if the bank tells them to remove it, or if it's id theft/fraud/etc.

It's not fair, but unless you can get USAA to remove it, I'm afraid you're out of luck. That happened to me with Wells Fargo a couple of years ago. It's fallen off now, but I kept hitting brick walls, and finally just gave up.

Customers shouldn't have to pay for the mistakes of the bank's employees, but the law doesn't really support the customer on this.

[pizzadude]

Unfortunately this happens quite frequently.   Most CSRs are uninformed about credit reporting issues, especially the differences between and hard & soft pulls.   Or they are sometimes misinformed about their company's policies regarding credit pulls.

[drkaje]

You're probably stuck with it.

I had the same thing happen with Citi last year. Asked for a CLI, said I didn't want a hard pull, rep didn't know for sure, and the rest is history. I went down swinging, though. Even sent a letter after a few calls, LOL!

Stuff happens.

[hotpoint]

Thanks for the response -- I will take this to whatever level necessary. I understand, it may be useless, but they will respond, coach their employees, remove, hang up the phone, or whatever, but I will add this cause to my list. I have started the dispute with USAA, next is to notify the Banking Industry, BBB and or small claims court. This is not fair. I am no longer upset . . . Now it's about the principle. HotPoint

[Anonymous]

I'm going to guess you'll just end up wasting your time on that. Even if the CSR said it's an SP, they have permissable purpose to do an HP since they're a current creditor. The CRAs will side with the creditor if you dispute it. Even if you try to escalate it all the way to the top, USAA can just stick with the fact that it's their policy and that's the end of it. They can just say the customer service rep was misinformed and that's the end of the story.

Of course, you can file the complaint with the BBB and try to contact people in the banking industry, but all they're going to see is someone complaining about a legitimate inquiry that they don't want to have on their report. It sucks, but the best option is just to let it age off.

When I applied for one of the Amex cards, the rep told me they specifically needed to pull my TU and asked me to unfreeze it. I doublechecked since they usually pull EX, and he said it was just TU they wanted. So I unfroze it, and they pulled all three. I contacted the Executive Office and they told me I'm out of luck, they never reverse inquiries. So it's hardly just USAA making 'mistakes' like that.

[CreditCrusader]

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@hotpoint wrote:
Thanks for the response -- I will take this to whatever level necessary. I understand, it may be useless, but they will respond, coach their employees, remove, hang up the phone, or whatever, but I will add this cause to my list. I have started the dispute with USAA, next is to notify the Banking Industry, BBB and or small claims court. This is not fair. I am no longer upset . . . Now it's about the principle. HotPoint

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Just take caution to not cut off your nose to spite your face. This one is a bummer, but I'm not sure it's worth going to war over.

[drkaje]

It's your time, HP.

I'm a little surprised the Rep didn't know, though. USAA reps I've dealt with were always really knowledgeable about stuff like that. I asked a rep and she said any customer initiated request would be a HP but they reviewed accounts at 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Did you at least get the CLI?

[BlueHusky]

I say more power to you, hotpoint.

I've had so many people tell me, when I say I'm going to argue something "Don't worry about it, you're wasting your time" but you know...it's not wasting my time for 2 reasons:

1. 9 times out of 10, I do end up making a difference. Maybe other people don't know how to complain in the same way I do, but I tend to get things done.
2. For that remaining 10%, at least I can sleep at night knowing I tried. It makes me feel better knowing I didn't just acquiesce to someone else's will and just accept things. I like standing up for my rights, even when I don't win.