Punished by Neiman Marcus My experience is pretty simple: I purchased something around $1800 from Neiman Marcus by personal check in Augusut, they don't accept Visa/Master Card. I just pulled out free credit report from Transunion. To my surprise, there is a hard inquriy from Neiman Marcus on that day !! I was never told that they would check my credit report. As I read from internet, one hard inquiry could reduce credit score by 20 points, and will remain on file for 2 years. Called corporate a few times, and they told me it was legitmate, and there was no need to get my authorization. So I asked "so every time i purchase from Neiman Marcus by check, my credit score should decline ?" Their answer was "Yes." I am writing a letter to them to request removal of the unauthorized hard inquiry but that would probably be fruitless. Meanwhile, do you have any suggestions for me what I can do ? Best place to complain ? Transunion is of no help. I puchased from Neiman Marcus, King of prussia. What they did might be legal, but was their behavior immoral and unethical? Is writing a check to a merchant gives implicit authorization to post hard inquiry to my credit report ? Any legal expert ? If what they do lowers customers credit score, should they inform the cusotmer in advance ? Thanks advance for your input ........ I normally provide help to others in technical forums, but I have no idea on this topic.
That is definetely odd. Did you at any time - when you wrote out the check - also show your SS card as ID? Do you live in a state where your driver's number is actually your SS # ? On a large amount like yours was merchants normally run your checking account info through outfits like Telecheck - which could have a relationship with Transunion to conspire against consumers by stating that they applied for credit.
Have you asked Neiman Marcus for "evidence" that pulling your report is legal (perhaps their legal dept.). As it does not seem legal for them to pull your credit, as your are not entering into a "credit" situation. I can see them running you through "Telecheck", to see if any history of bad checks, etc. But I would dispute (in writing) with the credit reporting agencies, I would also write a letter requesting "permissible purpose" of their inquiry.
This is an old thread - but Neiman Marcus has done this before, and members did some debating then. http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...horizes-hard-inq-44802.html/?highlight=Neiman
Thank you so much jlynn, greg1045, bizwid41 ---- they only had my personal check, and they didn't have my SSN. reading other thread, looks like this is standard practice for Neiman Marcus, legal or not, moral or not, you authorize them or not, they just do it. Very difficult for me to swallow. Why in the hell should they screw customers like this ........ Could end up paying tens of thousands more interest for a mortage. Should I just admit my stupidity since I paid by check, and move on ? Letter to Neiman Marcus has been sent. I wanted to put a credit report lock a long ago but I was very lazy to do so.
Dispute the inquiry with the CRA. In your dispute letter mention the fact that you made out a check at Neiman Marcus and did NOT apply for any credit through them. That they had no business looking at your credit report. The inquiry will be removed when/while Transunion "investigates" the matter. A note of warning though: Do NOT dispute online, send them a letter certified/return receipt requested.
This may be an odd question, but did the check clear before or after the hard pull? They are likely to argue that taking a check (a promissory note, if you will) is a credit transaction. However, if the check was already cashed when the pull was made, that argument would no longer be valid.
For what it is worth, if you don't have the card already, get a Neiman's card. You get lots of good advance sale information as well as 5% off on purchases placed on the card.
Thanks Annabell, Oracle, Greg1045 ----- The credit pull was on the same day. I will send letter to Transunion later. I buy from neiman marcus every a few years, so no need to get its card, and according to some guidelines i read from internet, we shouldn't have too many store cards. probably the matter i learned is that always avoid trouble by using a credit card.
I would take the position that purchasing by check is the equivalent of purchasing by cash, and the FTC long ago (in the Amason Letter) stated that purchasing by cash does not confer Permissible Purpose to pull credit. That does not apply to Chexsystems, which is a CRA geared towards check transactions, but it would apply to the big 3 CRA's - TU, EXP and EFX.
This just doesn't seem right. I to thought that checks were considered equivalent to cash. Please let us know what happens with this.
A check is not cash. It's just a piece of paper, which has your name, address, bank's name, routing #, and account # on it. Has no legal status as far as payments are concerned - until it clears the banking system. Even cash is becoming more and more scrutinized to weed out fake/counterfit bills.
