Hard or soft pulls?

[Yortster]

Hello, I just got my credit score and noticed 2 inquiries over the last year, one was from Comcast and the other was ATT.  The Comcast inquiry must have been when I called to simply ask about pricing for cable and internet service - since I had been a customer in the past they must have had my social security number already. The ATT inquiry was also just a phone call to ask about their internet service.

Please tell me these inquiries are considered "soft pulls" and have no effect on my score? Obviously I was not asking for credit nor was I even aware that they were checking my credit. Thanks.

[Ms-Kato]

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@Yortster wrote:

Hello, I just got my credit score and noticed 2 inquiries over the last year, one was from Comcast and the other was ATT.  The Comcast inquiry must have been when I called to simply ask about pricing for cable and internet service - since I had been a customer in the past they must have had my social security number already. The ATT inquiry was also just a phone call to ask about their internet service.

Please tell me these inquiries are considered "soft pulls" and have no effect on my score? Obviously I was not asking for credit nor was I even aware that they were checking my credit. Thanks.

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If all you did was call and ask about pricing then they shouldn't be listed as a hard pull. I would be pissed if they did that.

How are they listed..read the heading above the inquiries..it will explain who sees what and what is only seen by you.

Having too many hard inquiries when shopping for a mortgage or CC doesn't look good on your report..Also they can lower your score

but the points are very low and usually in the single digits...at least that's how it works for me.

You need to go over your report again and read what it says in the inquiry section...if they are hard pulls I would call comcast and AT&T and complain and ask them to remove them.

[Guava]

You need to look at your report again to find out. If your report is from Transunion, hard pulls are under "Regular Inquiries", soft pulls are under "Promotional Inquiries"; if it was from Experian, then hard pulls are "Inquiries shared with others" and soft pulls are "Inquiries shared only with you", etc.

On all reports, there will be some wording saying "inquiries will be on your report for 2 years" (or something like that), any inquiries listed under that line will be hard pulls.

[RobertEG]

I would assert that those inquiries went far beyond any hard/soft inquiry issue.  In my opinion, they were a flat-out impermissible pull.

It was not based on a legitmate business need in connection with a business transaction initiated by the consumer.  A call about services does not rise to the level of a business transaction initiated by the comsumer, and thus they had no permissible purpose.

This is akin to walking into a car dealer and taking a test drive, without reaching a contract offer for the vehicle, and the dealer doing a pull of your CR before you had a firm business transaction.  For a good discussion of why such inquiries dont qualify as permissible purposes, take a peek at the following staff opinion letter from the FTC issued 2/11/98 (availble on the FTC web page).  Quoting portions of that opinion:

"For example, a consumer who asks a dealer questions about prices and financing is not necessarily indicating an intent to purchase or lease a vehicle from that particular dealer. Nor does the dealer have a "legitimate" business need for a consumer report in this situation. The consumer may simply be comparison shopping. In such a situation, the dealer must obtain written permission from the consumer before obtaining a consumer report. If the dealer would like to see a consumer's credit report before answering general questions about the availability of financing, this must be explained to the consumer and written permission must be obtained. In the same way, a request to "test drive" a vehicle does not indicate an intent to initiate the purchase or lease of the vehicle. Accordingly, if a consumer asks to test drive a vehicle, the dealer must obtain written permission from the consumer before obtaining a report.

"Only in those circumstances where it is clear both to the consumer and to the dealer that the consumer is actually initiating the purchase or lease of a specific vehicle and, in addition, the dealer has a legitimate business need for consumer report information may the dealer obtain a report without written permission. In this regard, we note that obtaining information for negotiation purposes does not constitute a "legitimate" business need. The dealer must have a specific need for the information directly related to the completion of the transaction. For example, a dealer may obtain a report, if one is necessary, in order to arrange financing requested by the consumer.(1) The dealer may also obtain a report to check a consumer's creditworthiness when the consumer presents a personal check to pay for the vehicle. By contrast, a permissible purpose would not arise if a consumer intends to pay by cash"