Time Warner Cable checked credit without consent

[stlmo123]

I placed an order online for TW Cable service and signed up for automatic monthly payments from my debit card so they wouldn't have to do a hard pull. The next day I received an e-mail from TW telling me the order didn't go through and to call their national sales dept. I'm assuming this is so they could get me on the phone and upsell. The woman I spoke to asked for my SSN right at the beginning of the conversation and I said, "I'm not going to provide you with my SSN because I do not want you to run my credit. Do not check my credit." I explained to her how it would affect my score and she agreed not to. I just wanted to find out why the order didn't go through and set up a similar payment plan to avoid the inquiry or maybe recover the initial order.

She then proceeded to tell me "Everything came back 'green'" and that I wouldn't owe a deposit. She told me she ran my credit and found me through a previous address or something. I got her supervisor on the phone who suggested to me that my credit HAD NOT been run and explained to me why they normally do that and how it's out of their hands. I said okay, thanks, and went with another company. 

I received a ScoreWatch alert this morning telling me that they DID run my credit. Needless to say, I'm pissed. I was told they did not run my credit and had explicitly told the woman more than once that I did not consent to her doing that. 

So my question is: is this legal? I want the inquiry removed but I'd also like to report them to someone and have them fined to hopefully discourage them from continuing this practice. From what I've gathered online this is illegal for them to do but I figured I'd find a more definitive answer here. 

What do you all think?

[RobertEG]

It's not improper under the FCRA.  The question of whether what they did in view of their promise is "illegal" is a secondary issue not covered under the FCRA.

It's really a private oral contract issue that would, in my opinion, be handled by way of civil action.

FCRA 604 defines a long list of items for which a creditor or business has permissible purpose to pull a consumer's credit file without their specific consent.

The very reason for section 604 is to define purposes that dont require specific, prior approval of the consumer.  Otherwise, business processing of requests for credit or for legitimate business transactions would come to a halt.

Having permissible purpose as a legitmate business transaction, the coding of how they report that inquiry is not regulated under the FCRA, and remains a mystery, at least to me.  I dont know how a business or creditor makes an inquiry that otherwise qualifies for inclusion in your credit report in a manner that blocks that inclusion.

There are no guidelines or regulations, at least that I am aware of, that stipulates how such a subjective system of reporting operates.

[Shogun]

+1   It's a permissable pull.  Sorry.  

[TravisD]

I work for DirecTv (sales), and when I ask someone for their SSN and they don't want to give it out, I then can run it by their address unless they specifically say they don't want to do a credit check. Even though you said you didn't, I'm sure they just did it by the address anyway since most people won't notice.

[bettercreditguy1]

+1 They are providing a service, that is on going forward credit via a revolving account. They, just like utilities and cell phone providers are allowed to do a credit check.