HP and SP Infos

[Angko]

I just have two questions:

1. What informations are contained from a HP that are not seen from a SP? Will there be a difference?

2. And are all the details from a CR extracted from one of MyFico's CRAs exactly the same as what a lender will see given if both (MyFico and lender) pulled from the same date and time?

Thanks!!!

[Hooosier]

I'm also interested to see the responses to this.  I had never really thought of the differences the creditor sees between a HP and a SP and now I am curious.

[Revelate]

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@Angko wrote:

I just have two questions:

1. What informations are contained from a HP that are not seen from a SP? Will there be a difference?

2. And are all the details from a CR extracted from one of MyFico's CRAs exactly the same as what a lender will see given if both (MyFico and lender) pulled from the same date and time?

Thanks!!!

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1) There's no difference between a HP and SP as far as what the lender obtains.

2) Not exactly; the third parties which provide access to the bureau's data have their own presentation format, and not all information is necessarily displayed.  If you look at the reports for EX or EQ from annualcreditreports.com (the gold standard as far as obtaining a report as a consumer directly from the bureau) there's some information on it which you won't find anywhere else, such as reported monthly payments.

Also there's often some prettying-up of the credit reports that we as consumers see: I asked to see my report that was pulled for my original dealer-financed auto-loan, and it was basically a tradeline summary in ascii format: that likely hasn't changed in call it two decades, whereas the consumer obtainable ones are updated far more frequently from a presentation perspective.

[Angko]

Thanks Revelate for the good info.

[Petraeus]

Great insight Revelate. Thanks

[RobertEG]

+!, with one exception.

FCRA 604 defines all of the permissible purposes under which a CRA may provide copies of credit reports.

The normal permissible purposes, such as inquires where the consumer has initiated a request for credit or insurance, the inquiry is related to a legitimate business purpose, the consumer has an existing account with the inquiree, the inquiree is collecting on a debt, or the inquiry is for employment purposes, all entitle the inquiree to the consumer's full CR

Section 604(c) provides for a special type of inquiry made by a party with whom the creditor has not initiated any request for credit or insurance.

Those are the so-called promotional iquiries that result in junk mail, unsolicited offers for credit.

If a party states to the CRA that they are making a firm offer of credit or insurance, they may obtain a report from the CRA that is limited only to the consumer's name and address.  They dont get a full consumer report.  They send a firm offer to the consumer's address, and hope the consumer then makes an application, which then gives them a permissible purpose of a consumer-initated request for credit, and thus a copy of their full CR,

Section 604(c) additionally stipulates that such inquiries  cannot be shown in a consumer's credit report.  They are the only so-called "soft" inquiry covered by the FCRA,.

All other coding of an inquiry such that it is bloced from appearing in a consumer's credit report (i.e., a "soft pull") are creations of some mysterious coding system developed by the CRAs.  How and when the CRAs will accept a request from a creditor to block appearance of their inquiry that is otherwise entitlted to posting to the consumer's credit report (i.e., make it a "soft" inquiry) remains a deep secret that is not outlined in the CRA reporting manuals.

It thus makes any challenge of coding as a hard inquriy almost impossible unless it is clearly only a promotional inquiry.

[Angko]

Thanks RobertEG! Much appreciated!

[OhioCPA]

Isn't who initiated the inquiry the determining factor between a HP and SP? A HP is generally when an applicant applies for new credit or ask for a credit line increase. A SP is initiated by either a current creditor or a potential creditor for promotion offers.

Most of the references to a SP for credit granting consideration on these forums are for creditors who don't pull credit when an applicant applies for a credit line increase. These creditors will rely on internal records or a previous SP to consider the credit line increase. GE is one of these creditors.

[RobertEG]

The term hard and soft pull are not mentioned in the FCRA, and are terms of art.

A so-called hard pull is one that shows in credit reports provided to others, while a so-called soft inquiry is one that is not included in credit reports made avaliable to others.

The FCRA only has one statutory restriction on exclusion of an permissible inquiry from the consumer's credit report.  That pertains to inquiries made for the purpose of offering a firm, unsolicited offer for credit or insurance.  All other ihquires with permissible purpose have no specific statutory prohibition from showing.

The system of excluding some inquires is an administrative process devleoped by the CRAs that has no publshed procedures.

There are certain types of inquires that are, for obvious reason, provided codes that prevent CR inclusion, such as normal account reviews by an existing creditor.

Those make sense.

Other types of inquires that are normaly shown in a conumer's credit report, such as consumer initiated requests for new or increased credit, or consumer-initiated business transactions, have some mysterious system by whhich the inquiree can request a code that will exclude it from CRs provided to others.

How inqurees that are clearly game for showing in a consumer's credit report get coded in such a manner that excludes them is a deep, dark mystery that is not published in any CRA procedures that I am aware of.

I suppose the CRAs provide a code that essentially reads "Normally includable in the consumer's credit report, but code it so that others cannot see it."

Very subjective.

[OhioCPA]

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@RobertEG wrote:
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I suppose the CRAs provide a code that essentially reads "Normally includable in the consumer's credit report, but code it so that others cannot see it."

Very subjective.

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Rather than subjective I would think it was objective, if someone request credit it is a HP, otherwise a SP. I am not sure where the mystery lies.