Does a current creditor (credit card company) have the right to do a hard inquiry in order to review your account? I just had two creditors do this recently, and had never had it happen before. They were ALWAYS soft inquiries in the past. One of the creditors always did a soft inquiry before until this one. These hard inquiries lowered my score. Not only did it lower my score, but because my wife and I are getting a mortgage, our scores were lower than normal because of the mortgage pulls. Our "new scores" didn't meet one of the current creditors guidelines for the limit they had previously established for us. So, not only did they slash our credit limit in half, but because we had a balance equal to 1/2 the limit (which we pay off every month), that card now shows as maxed out ...HENCE, lowering our scores even more! We got slaughtered on the scores. Has anyone had this happen before?
DID YOU APPLY FOR A SECOND CARD??? If no, then the answer is NO!!! DISPUTE IT AS "NO PERMISSABLE PURPOSE"... GOOD LUCK...
George, Thanks for the reply. No, we didn't apply for a second card. They said they were just doing an account review. I'm definitely disputing it.
I have a question. Is an AR notation (account review) the same thing as a "soft" inquiry? How can one tell whether an inquiry is "soft" or "hard"? Calmest_LA
Yes, an AR is a soft inquiry. A soft inquiry is usually preceded by: AR, PRM, (some others as well), will a hard inquiry will show up with the creditors name. Also, TU and EX separate hard inq's from soft inq's, which helps you see the difference.
