Dispute Sprint Hard Pull

[Anonymous]

First time I've opened my own cell phone account. Going through the process online, Sprint says they will run a "credit report". Gave no indication whether it would be hard or soft pull. I assumed a soft. Well they hard pulled Experian. Is this disputable? I'm new to disputes and what really qualifies as being disputable. I never wanted to hard pull. Am I just out of luck and have to deal? Thanks.

[Jnbmom]

If it stated they will run a credit report then yes you agreed to the credit pull.  When applying for most anything and with cell phones as well expect a HP.  You can not dispute it is legit.

[Anonymous]

Ok thanks for the clarification. Appreciate it. First hard pull for something other than a CC or loan.

[RobertEG]

Informing you that they were even going to pull your credit report was itself optional.

FCRA 604 permits a business to pull your credit report without your authorization if there is a legitimate business need to review your credit as part of the business transaction initiated by a consumer.

Cell phone accounts have the ability to become delinquent,and thus it is a well-accepted permissible purpose.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Always assume anything credit related will be a hard pull. Even if it's supposed to be an SP, errors happen and there's almost no way to reverse it afterwards.

[RobertEG]

It is a toothpaste is out of the tube issue with the CRAs.

Once a CRA has sent your credit information to an inquiree, it cannot be undone.

Additionally, there are various legal requirments imposed on CRAs for providing records of who has accessed your credit report, which can extend for approx 2 years, and thus deletion of records of the inquiry are usually viewed as factually inappropriate by the CRAs.

The preferred, and legally clean, method of "removal" is to attempt to get the inquiry recoded as "soft," which removes it from view by others and from your scoring.  The inquiry still remains in your file for legal considerations, but is concealed behind a wall and not normally disclosed to others.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the information....So I guess I could try to call Sprint and see if they could have it changed to a soft pull now that they've started my service. Is this something that they may do as a show of good faith deal or are they more likely to say sorry you're out of luck? What tips do you have for calling in and getting it changed?

[Physh1]

Some quick research would have told you that this would be a hard pull. You said clearly that you assumed it would be a soft pull...that won't fly with any creditor to change it. It's done...why be so worried about 1 inquiry? Inquiries should be expected when applying for service accounts (phone, cable, etc) or credit applications...

[Anonymous]

Like I said before, first inquiry for something other than credit or a loan. Never for utilities (water, gas, electric) or cable (Xfinity). It was an honest question and I was just looking for some guidance.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
First time I've opened my own cell phone account. Going through the process online, Sprint says they will run a "credit report". Gave no indication whether it would be hard or soft pull. I assumed a soft.

No reason for you to make that assumption.

Well they hard pulled Experian. Is this disputable?

No

I'm new to disputes and what really qualifies as being disputable. I never wanted to hard pull. Am I just out of luck and have to deal?

Yes. Just get over it. That's the world in which we live. There are lots of hard pulls in life, some unanticipated.

That's why I recommend always trying to optimize one's credit score, whether there's a big credit application coming up or not.

Thanks.

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