Asked Chase for CLI, was told it would be Soft Pull, it wasn't, can i dispute?

[Anonymous]

All in thread title

I called Chase asking if I could get CLI as it is my lowest limit but my best card. I called backdoor number found on here and asked CSR multiple times if it would be soft or hard pull, she confirmed it would be a soft pull. If it was hard I was not going to do it since I'm in gardening mode right now. Today I get an alert that my experian was pulled by chase. :\

Can I dispute it? Should I? The good thing is it's on my experian and most credit unions I'm using pull from TU/EQ. I'm planning on refinancing car soon or new car. I'm trying not to exceed 2 pulls per CSr for now.

Thanks all!

Jbrown

[Guava]

Chase has always hard-pull for CLI. You can call them and "dispute" but I don't see much of a shot. CRA won't do anything about it also.

[pizzadude]

Many CSRs either do not know the difference between Hard & Soft credit pulls, or they are misinformed on when their systems will require a hard pull of your CR.

This isn't limited to Chase, it happens at many companies unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Just a good example of how clueless some CSR's can be. I guess they may not always understand what a "Hard" or "Soft" pull is and will tell you what you want to hear. Or their best guess with a 50 / 50 chance of being right.

You could try to talk to a Chase supervisor, but in reality any request for CLI is a request for credit and MAY result in a hard. The My Fico community is a wonderful resource in what most lenders "usually" do.

[RobertEG]

I hope that this is not hijacking the thread, but it raises a related question in my mind.

When a party requests your CR, do they actually even report a CRA code?  I am not sure they do.

It would seem to me that many parties who request credit reports dont even have a credit reporting agreement with the CRAs, and thus dont even know about or use the Metro 2 codes established by the CRAs.  Requests for permissible access to credit reports dont require, at least under the FCRA, any reporting agreements or provision of their coding of the inquiry.

It would seem to me that all that would be necessary is that they provide the certification of permissible purpose required under FCRA 604(f) and 607(a), leaving it to the CRA to enter the appropriate code related to the stated permissible purpose. 

So, that raises an additional question.  Since any request initiated by a consumer for the extension of credit could technically be coded as a "hard pull," how does the actual entry of a code that identifies it as such a pull but also avoids FICO inclusion of the inquiry in their scoring occur?

Does anyone know how the system works?  Are we incorrectly blaming creditors for CRA coding determinations? 

[mtrsprt]

So did you get a CL increase? If so, don't sweat the inquiry.  

[Scamp]

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@Anonymous wrote:

All in thread title

I called Chase asking if I could get CLI as it is my lowest limit but my best card. I called backdoor number found on here and asked CSR multiple times if it would be soft or hard pull, she confirmed it would be a soft pull. If it was hard I was not going to do it since I'm in gardening mode right now. Today I get an alert that my experian was pulled by chase. :\

Can I dispute it? Should I? The good thing is it's on my experian and most credit unions I'm using pull from TU/EQ. I'm planning on refinancing car soon or new car. I'm trying not to exceed 2 pulls per CSr for now.

Thanks all!

Jbrown

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Hi, Jbrown.

I've dealt with this a few times, and rather than dispute - either via the lender or the CRAs - it's safer and (in my experience) more likely to get a good result if you call the backdoor numbers and request that the inq be recoded to a soft.

Now - this can take time, patience, and often requires escalating up the chain to reach someone who understands what you're talking about and want them to do, but it's generally been worth it for me.  Lenders are VERY reluctant to remove inqs outright for any reason, but especially in a situation wherein you've actually made a credit-related request like this.

Also, in my experience, using the approach that you are nicely asking them for help in correcting/resolving a problem is usually best - people in general WANT and LIKE to help other people, so giving them the chance to feel good by helping you solve your problem (as opposed to calling and being angry or demanding about it) will improve your chances of success.

No guarantees, and as others have noted, Chase ALWAYS does hard inqs for CLI requests, so probably less likely to succeed with them, but worth a try.

Hope this is helpful, and good luck if you do give it a shot!

[cdtotten]

Unfortunately, it is well known and posted on this board frequently that Chase always pulls hard for a customer initiated increase. I have never heard of anyone ever getting a customer initiated increase without a hard pull. Ask here next time before you act!

As for removing the inquiry, you really have no basis for requesting this. They have PP to pull your report at any time since they are a credit grantor, and since you are requesting an increase, they have further reason to pull. CC reps typically have no clue about credit reporting, so they just give their best guess, but are usually wrong. You can't dispute it, it will come back validated almost instantly. Your only shot is to contact a chase rep and see what they can do, but I wouldn't expect anything. The good news is, the inquiry has little if no impact on your score and won't matter in a year.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the informative posts! No I did not get the CLI I requested, haha.  I'm not gonna worry about it mainly b/c it was only an Experian pull and everything I want to apply for in the next 6 months should be EQ/TU.

In other news do you think they pulled my official FICO Exp? Could I ask them for my score?

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened earlier this year with Citi. Wrote them a polite letter explaining that no hard pull had been authorized, blah blah blah and they responded saying the pull was done as the result of a CLI request and there was nothing they could do. Honestly can't recall if I used the backdoor number or not.