TU inquiries, worth the effort?

[Anonymous]

I received a signature loan from Citi Financial back in October of 2007 to pay off a credit card. Just about every month since then I receive calls from them offering me an existing credit. Specifically In May of 2008 and January of 2009 I received calls offering me additional funds. In both instances I declined the offer and was presented with the opportunity to possibly lower the interest rate on my current loan. It was not made clear to me at that time that I was applying for additional credit nor was it disclosed that my consent to look into a lower interest rate entailed performing a hard inquiry on my credit report.

Now, I was looking at my TransUnion credit report and see inquiries under the “regular inquiries” section for May ’08 and January ’09. From my understanding they should have done a soft inquiry because I have existing credit with them? Also, they didn’t disclose to me that they were going to pull my credit report on either occasion over the phone. If I have a case, who should I take it up with , TransUnion or Citi Financial? The reason I ask is we’re purchasing an automobile in the near future and I’m sitting right on the fence for the best rate with our credit union. My Equifax score is 2 points over the score they require but the CU uses TransUnion. Both reports are identical minus the inquiries so I’m afraid I may be slightly below with TransUnion.

[medicgrrl]

The only one probably even affecting your score is the Jan. 09 inquiry.  Even though both reports are identical it still may not affect your score.  Each bureau scores in different ways.  One may put more emphasis on lack of revolving credit where the other may put more emphasis on the types of installment loans you have.  They are all FICO's but each tweak them slightly different from what I understand. 

[Anonymous]

You'd take it up with Citi first.

The one from May 08 will stop affecting your score in May 09.

How many other inquiries do you have besides these two?

[Anonymous]

I have 5 total, 4 of which are from Citi Financial. Two of them are from when I applied for the initial loan in October of '07. They were 2 days apart so I think they count as a single inquiry? Then there’s the 2 aforementioned unauthorized inquiries in May ‘08 and January ’09. Finally, there’s one by Sallie Mae in November of ’08. I’m also unclear on how that got on there. My wife has gotten a student loan through them in the past but I don’t believe they used my credit. Do you think these would have much impact?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't expect much of any points if you were to get these removed.

How many points are you needing?

The ones from '07 don't count any longer.

[Anonymous]

I’m not entirely sure at this point as my credit union uses Transunion. According to Score Watch I’m 2 points over the minimum requirement for their best rate, however that’s the Equifax score.

My Equifax report only has 2 inquiries, one from 10/17/08 and another from 08/20/08. Since I’m sitting right on the fence I figured every point counts. I plan on pulling my TransUnion score in about a week after my credit card reports with a lower balance. Do you think the TU score would be around the same thing?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I’m not entirely sure at this point as my credit union uses Transunion. According to Score Watch I’m 2 points over the minimum requirement for their best rate, however that’s the Equifax score.

My Equifax report only has 2 inquiries, one from 10/17/08 and another from 08/20/08. Since I’m sitting right on the fence I figured every point counts. I plan on pulling my TransUnion score in about a week after my credit card reports with a lower balance. Do you think the TU score would be around the same thing?

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Don't waste your money pulling your TU score unless you find out that your credit union uses TU and which TU Fico score model is involved. The TU score that you purchase from MyFico is the TU'98 Classic score, and it's very likely that your CU would be looking at a different model - either the TU'04 Classic score or a TU auto-enhanced score, both of which could differ significantly from your TU'98 score ...  

Message Edited by Revike on 04-26-2009 12:27 PM

[MostlyCloudy]

Just to add some perspective to your dilemma, I recently applied from a new credit card, and the inquiry alone knocked off 10 points from my EQ credit score, as reported through MyFico's credit monitoring service. Thats a pretty big hit for a single inquiry if you ask me.

[llecs]

Don't rely on the SW reasons within the alert to figure out the point change. There could have been other things that occurred like a change in util. I once had a SW alert that my score increased 20 points because of a new inquiry.

Though, you certainly could lose 10 points from a new inquiry. Usually happens when your score is 700+ and/or you go from 0 to 1 or 1 to 2 inquiries.