Preapproval Hard Inquiry ~ FURIOUS

[Anonymous]

Hard hits can be removed and I found it to be rather easy. I had something like eight hard hits when I purchased a new car in August 2014. This was four months into my re-building. The dealer told me that the FMCC would be my best bet and I'd get an extra discount if I went with them. I instructed him to then just have FMCC pull my CR. Well, a lot of other financial institutions pulled my CR's. My CR's looked bad and my score fell like over 35 points. So much for the pulls only counting as one. I began to write to the banks requesting (read demanding) these unathorized inquiries be removed. Most did it rather quickly. A couple took about four months until they removed the HP's. My score as each one was removed went up a few points.

[Remedios]

On a related topic, what is the difference in data on a soft pull vs. hard pull? 

[iced]

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Thanks for your reply. I understand that it is rare to only have soft pull when applying for credit; however, it is the bank’s legal obligation to disclose the terms of the application properly, which they did not. As a result, I entered into a legal agreement based on erroneous information, and the bank is legally obligated to remove the inquiry because of their associate’s error. Again, my question is how to force them to comply.

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I'm not so sure about this. I'm no lawyer, but if they have a written policy somewhere online that states they do a HP for new accounts and the rep told you otherwise, unless you have a recording of it it's not going to be easy to prove in court. Even if you can prove it, the written policy may be sufficient in the eyes of the law to rule in their favor.

[Anonymous]

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I guess go down the BBB route for starters and see what that does for you.  You were approved for the card though, right?  If you were, I honestly wouldn't make a fuss about it, because as you stated previously you're well aware that credit apps result in HPs.  It sounds like you were sort of preying on ignorance here, which really isn't something to get worked up about if it doesn't work out.  It's like if on Pay Day you saw that your direct deposit for some reason went into your bank account twice.  You know that's not right, so you call your employer and he looks into it and says "nope, everything looks fine on our end..."  Then a few days later he contacts you and says that he does realize there's an error and will need to take back the double-payment.  You can't get mad over that, as you knew from the very start what was right and what was wrong.  Again, assuming you were approved for the product here, stirring the pot may end up getting your account flagged in some way shape or form, which could end up biting you in the rear at some point down the line.  Just something to consider, as inquiries are the least impactful part of one's credit score.

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I agree 1000%. He knew darn well that credit card applications give a hard pull 99% of the time. It feels like trying to play the system. You applied for a product, take the **bleep** hard pull. This wouldn’t be the first time a rep on the phone had no clue what was going on. Human error. Enjoy the card and the hard pull means nothing.

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Your gifts of perception and insight are sorely lacking. First of all, I am not a "he." Second, I clearly asked, more than once, during the course of the call whether or not there would be a hard inquiry, and I was repeatedly told no. In addition, the mailer I received states that "Preapproval is based on Bank of the West underwriting. Verification MAY be required." Not "WILL" be required. And since your attention to detail is clearly amiss, you did not read my previous statement that the process for approval was not immediate, and I still do not know if I am approved despite the preapproval received. Lastly, why am I being raked over the coals in this thread and interrogated about my knowldege or lack of knowledge regarding credit applications, when a paid employee of a financial institution, an employee who is paid to process credit applications and understand the terms of the application, made such a gross error? It is not my knowledge that should be under scrutiny, and Bank of the West is ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees. 

[Anonymous]

It says that preaproval is based on B of W underwriting, and verification may be required. Sorry, the form wasnt handy when i responded to you last night. Thanks for your sincere effort to help; it is appreciated.

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Thank you. No, nothing about hard pull in the doc received in mail.

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that is interesting, there is zero mention about checking your credit?  I dont check all my offers but they seem to mention that credit will be pulled.  you are in a bit of a pickle.  maybe wait to see what they give you and see how you feel it all then.  based on them being antiquated I am not sure but I would see if they record all the calls and maybe use that as your leverage if they do.  getting hps removed is hard, maybe they will turn it into a soft.  amex records every call and it then tagged them to ones account.  apparently they keep these calls forever I found out first hand.  see what they give you.  this is why some CUs can be so nice to deal with, banks are just sometimes awful to deal with but the banks have the better sign ups. 

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[Dave4fun]

Polina I would be upset too. I read through those Pre Approved offers carefully. My experience has been they do say even though this is Pre Approved a consumer report (credit report) will be obtained. If they say that, then in the trash it goes. I have had the B of W Offer myself, actually it looked pretty good, but it did say the report would be pulled. Only one time comes to my mind, my CU sent me a pre-approved Visa offer and it truly was pre-approved, no credit report was pulled. The offer did not indicate a report would be pulled either. It mentioned nothing about credit being pulled. In your case, the CSR said no HP and the offer said nothing about the report being obtained either. So...I would be furious too, and then 7-10 day wait. Salt in the wound! I hope you get the card and do I understand about you being upset.

[Anonymous]

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Your subject for this thread is deceptive. You didn't receive a hard inquiry for a preapproval. You received a hard inquiry for an application based on a preapproval notice (based purely on marketing and/or soft pull info). Sounds like you're fairly informed about applying for credit so while the frontline csr, who usually aren't as accurate as they should be, told you no hard pull would be done I would have absolutely expected the hard pull. I do from any credit application. As mentioned above, locks & freezes help protect you should this happen. I understand where you're coming from but 1 inquiry shouldn't fire you up this much...the approval will cause a bigger score dip in the short term than the inquiry.

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No, the thread title isnt deceptive if you read my original post. In fact, the thread has garnered many responses, so I think my choice of title is working for the purpose of soliciting feedback. Regarding what you would have expected if in the same situation I was in, irrelevant! Another example, one might be applying for a loan over the phone and within the application, the CSR informs consumer interest rate is 1.0%. If consumer agrees and assumes loan and finds out later that the rate is 18% and complains that an agreement was entered based on the misinformation of the CSR, the question would not be how knowldgeable the consumer was about interest rates prior to entering such agreement. The bank would have to either honor the 1% rate or allow the consumer to withdraw from contract without penalty. 

[Anonymous]

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Thanks for your reply. I understand that it is rare to only have soft pull when applying for credit; however, it is the bank’s legal obligation to disclose the terms of the application properly, which they did not. As a result, I entered into a legal agreement based on erroneous information, and the bank is legally obligated to remove the inquiry because of their associate’s error. Again, my question is how to force them to comply.

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I'm not so sure about this. I'm no lawyer, but if they have a written policy somewhere online that states they do a HP for new accounts and the rep told you otherwise, unless you have a recording of it it's not going to be easy to prove in court. Even if you can prove it, the written policy may be sufficient in the eyes of the law to rule in their favor.

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There is a recording, the calls are recorded, and as I stated in my original post, they stated the call would be reviewed. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your understanding.

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Polina I would be upset too. I read through those Pre Approved offers carefully. My experience has been they do say even though this is Pre Approved a consumer report (credit report) will be obtained. If they say that, then in the trash it goes. I have had the B of W Offer myself, actually it looked pretty good, but it did say the report would be pulled. Only one time comes to my mind, my CU sent me a pre-approved Visa offer and it truly was pre-approved, no credit report was pulled. The offer did not indicate a report would be pulled either. It mentioned nothing about credit being pulled. In your case, the CSR said no HP and the offer said nothing about the report being obtained either. So...I would be furious too, and then 7-10 day wait. Salt in the wound! I hope you get the card and do I understand about you being upset.

[iced]

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Thanks for your reply. I understand that it is rare to only have soft pull when applying for credit; however, it is the bank’s legal obligation to disclose the terms of the application properly, which they did not. As a result, I entered into a legal agreement based on erroneous information, and the bank is legally obligated to remove the inquiry because of their associate’s error. Again, my question is how to force them to comply.

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I'm not so sure about this. I'm no lawyer, but if they have a written policy somewhere online that states they do a HP for new accounts and the rep told you otherwise, unless you have a recording of it it's not going to be easy to prove in court. Even if you can prove it, the written policy may be sufficient in the eyes of the law to rule in their favor.

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There is a recording, the calls are recorded, and as I stated in my original post, they stated the call would be reviewed. 

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Do YOU have a copy of the recording? If not, everything about them making a recording is meaningless. Calls may be recorded, and while they likely are, there's no guarantee it was and it's just as likely that by the time this went to court the bank may have deleted/lost/cycled out the recording and/or stated they didn't make one in the first place. Worse, there's nothing you can do about it.

Weasel words work wonders on the uninformed public, but are quite slippery when challenged legally. There's a reason so many ads and companies use "virtually", "up to", and "may" among other weasel words - these convey confidence that something does what is claimed without actually making any promise to do so.