My DH and I own a small business and recently applied to change our merchant account (credit card processing company). This is NOT an application for a new credit card; this is an application to accept credit cards for our business.
I knew that they were going to pull my credit as part of the application and I asked if it was going to be a soft or hard pull. I was told soft, but it turned out to be hard. Please don't kick me out of the Garden Club... I didn't expect it to be a hard pull, and at any rate, it was an advantageous business move -- better rates, lower fees, etc.
Fortunately, it was with EX, with whom I only have 1 inq showing. Most lenders pull EQ for my area, so I would have preferred that they did not pull from there. Since I took the hit, I turned around and asked for the score. It turns out that it's the highest of my three scores, at 654. Bear in mind that I'm in rebuilding mode, so I'm happy with this score at this point in time. So, I just added it to my sig line. Now, to continue the upward score march! 
ETA: We were approved for the new merchant account. 
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
Congrats!
It's always reassuring to hear good news - especially in the rebuilding mode!
And it's great when the score you see least often turns out to be your highest. 
Thanks!
To the board moderator... I had intended to post this under Credit Cards, but inadvertently placed it here. Could you please move it? Thanks.
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
Congrats on finding out what your EX score is! And, double congrats on the progress!!! 
Have you tried asking them to recode it as a "soft" INQ, given that they told you it'd be soft?
I recently decided to switch Cable TV providers (tech coming out tomorrow). I asked, several times, if the pull would be hard or soft, and the CSR assured me that it'd be "soft". I asked her specifically, in the event that she didn't know the difference, if the INQ would impact my credit score & be seen by other creditors. Her answer was "No!" Of course, it was "hard". I called back the next day, talked to another CSR, and very nicely explained that the promised "soft" was actually a "hard", and that I might not have pursued service had I known that. She investigated, realized that they'd been misinforming people (they seemed to think that credit pulls by utiltities and cable & phone providers were automatically "soft"), and had it recoded as soft. The same thing happened in '09 when I switched cell phone carriers to get an iPhone with AT&T. They promised a "soft" INQ that would *not* impact my credit score, it turned out to be a hard INQ, and they recoded it to soft after nicely asking them to.
@DezC wrote:How do you distinguish between "soft" and "hard" pulls?
A soft pull only gives the lender some of your credit report -- I don't know what's missing; anyone out here know? -- and it doesn't count against your credit score. A hard pull does.
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
@92235 wrote:If you don't mind me asking who did you change to? I have Wells Fargo, and the fees aren't really high, but I would like get them lower. Overall last year we were sitting at about 3.83% without Amex. Amex is only 3% so its not too bad.
It's IP Pay. We were using Best Payment Solutions. IP Pay authorizes over the net WITHOUT having to use a gateway, such as Authorize.net. Because of this, it doesn't charge a gateway fee, has a lower percentage per transaction (I'm at home at the moment and don't have the fees in front of me) and deposits into our bank account in 48 hours, as opposed to 72 for Best Payment Solutions. Moreover, it has a seamless interface with our billing system. All in all, this was a very good move for us.
I bank at Wachovia, which is Wells Fargo. The CSR at my local branch took down our infomation and was supposed to get back to me to see what they could do for us, but he never did.
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
@Anonymous wrote:Congrats on finding out what your EX score is! And, double congrats on the progress!!!
Have you tried asking them to recode it as a "soft" INQ, given that they told you it'd be soft?
I recently decided to switch Cable TV providers (tech coming out tomorrow). I asked, several times, if the pull would be hard or soft, and the CSR assured me that it'd be "soft". I asked her specifically, in the event that she didn't know the difference, if the INQ would impact my credit score & be seen by other creditors. Her answer was "No!" Of course, it was "hard". I called back the next day, talked to another CSR, and very nicely explained that the promised "soft" was actually a "hard", and that I might not have pursued service had I known that. She investigated, realized that they'd been misinforming people (they seemed to think that credit pulls by utiltities and cable & phone providers were automatically "soft"), and had it recoded as soft. The same thing happened in '09 when I switched cell phone carriers to get an iPhone with AT&T. They promised a "soft" INQ that would *not* impact my credit score, it turned out to be a hard INQ, and they recoded it to soft after nicely asking them to.
No, I didn't think to ask. I have a phone meeting set up with our CSR for the new account this coming Monday. I'll inquire then. Thanks for the suggestion!
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k