Response to "Can I pull your credit"

[KingAdrock]

Years ago I got a bit of advice from a collegue. He says every time he applies in person for any loan, when they ask "Can we pull your credit report?" his response is "Will I get a copy?".

I personally thought this was genius. Has anyone else ever done this? All my credit are CCs, I've never app'd in person, so I haven't gotten a chance to try it. But when I app for a car or mortgage, I know I will.

[marty56]

Wehn I got my mortgage, they showed me my CR.  I didnt think to ask to see it last summer when I got my autoloan.

LOL if they dont want to give it to you, you could always ask them to pull your finger.

[Lel]

If the lender says "no" to the request, does he then go to another lender?

For mortgages I know that they have to give you the credit score that they pull when you apply, but they don't give you your actual credit report.  When I refinanced a loan last spring, I thought about asking for my credit report too, but on the day I applied I had already pulled my EX report, and I figured that there would be no need to get their version (they pulled EX too).

By the way, this experience told me that mortgage lenders definitely pull a different (a so-called mortgage-enhanced) FICO score, because the score they pulled was significantly different from my pull.  It was about 50 points higher.

[KingAdrock]

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@Lel wrote:

If the lender says "no" to the request, does he then go to another lender?

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This particular fellow is a very hard-nosed negotiator. He's never actually walked out on a lender for this reason, but only because it never came to that. He told me he's always been able to get a copy, the only difference being how much resistance is put up by the loan officer. Usually there isn't any, they're just surprised by the request. Sometimes they just waffle, trying to think of a reason why they "can't" give you a copy.

He also mentioned that while mortgage lenders are usually ok with it, car dealerships are not. The results are the same, but the attitude is different. For some reason dealerships really don't like this question. They'll still give you your CR, but you may have to push them. In any case, if they think you're going to walk out the door, they'll give you your CR pretty quick. It's not important enough to cost a sale.

[MattH]

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@KingAdrock wrote:

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@Lel wrote:

If the lender says "no" to the request, does he then go to another lender?

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This particular fellow is a very hard-nosed negotiator. He's never actually walked out on a lender for this reason, but only because it never came to that. He told me he's always been able to get a copy, the only difference being how much resistance is put up by the loan officer. Usually there isn't any, they're just surprised by the request. Sometimes they just waffle, trying to think of a reason why they "can't" give you a copy.

He also mentioned that while mortgage lenders are usually ok with it, car dealerships are not. The results are the same, but the attitude is different. For some reason dealerships really don't like this question. They'll still give you your CR, but you may have to push them. In any case, if they think you're going to walk out the door, they'll give you your CR pretty quick. It's not important enough to cost a sale.

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I think the reason car dealers especially dislike this request is because their business model seems to depend on taking advantage of the customer's ignorance at every opportunity.  I know I consistently pay too much when I buy a car, a problem I solve by keeping my cars a very long time (if I overpay by a thousand dollars on a used car every six years, then I'm only losing about $167 per year).

[Lel]

I've heard of car dealerships lying straight out about a person's credit in order to get people to accept a higher interest rate.

I'm looking into buying a new car within the next several months.  I'm curious to see what they try to pull.

BTW, I'm Mike D, I got all the fly juice.

[KingAdrock]

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@MattH wrote:

I think the reason car dealers especially dislike this request is because their business model seems to depend on taking advantage of the customer's ignorance at every opportunity.

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@Lel wrote:

I've heard of car dealerships lying straight out about a person's credit in order to get people to accept a higher interest rate.

I'm looking into buying a new car within the next several months. I'm curious to see what they try to pull.

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I'd say eliminating a chance of the salesman being shady is more than enough reason to demand your copy. If they aren't willing to do it, maybe you really should go to someone else.

[Anonymous]

Most dealerships will not give you a copy unless you are driving away in the car you bought from them because they do not want to become a quick and easy free resource for people wanting to see their score then walk out of the transaction.

It might be your information, but the dealership pays for each pull of the info.

[Junejer]

The reason mortgage lenders give them to you, is because you pay for them. If you pay for the credit report and ask for a copy, they HAVE to give it to you. If you don't pay for it, then the lender, dealer, banker, whomever, doesn't have to give you a copy of it.

[KingAdrock]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Most dealerships will not give you a copy unless you are driving away in the car you bought from them because they do not want to become a quick and easy free resource for people wanting to see their score then walk out of the transaction.

It might be your information, but the dealership pays for each pull of the info.

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It's not exactly free if it costs you a hard inq.