Hey...I got home telephone service with Bellsouth in Florida and they pulled a hard Inq, on all three of my credit reports! Has this ever happen to anyone else? =( I have no Hard Inq. Till This One. All other Inq, fell off in these past months leaving me with only one.
Yup. I moved to the Carolinas and EVERY utility company pulled hards. Bellsouth indeed pulled all 3, Duke Power pulled Equifax and Transunion, Time Warner Cable just Equifax, the oil company pulled Experian.
Yup =( and they didn't even say they where going to pull credit report! or didn't ask if it was ok to pull. The Utility Companys are gonna start reporting monthly payment also. =( which is really bad.
The Utility Companys are gonna start reporting monthly payment also. =( which is really bad. ===================Why is it bad?
we just turned power on in a rental unit we bought in south florida, and the power company pulled a hard inquiry, and we have had service with them for over 20 years.
I ONLY PAY UTILITIES 2 or 3 TIMES A YEAR...(if they report...I BETTER BE NEVER LATE)!!! I send $200-$500 and DON'T pay till it is no longer a CREDIT BALANCE... GOOD THING AMEX ISN'T ANY OF MY UTILITIES!!!
About three years ago I called Bell South to make a change to my telephone service. Once my transaction was complete the csr told me that I had been pre-approved for a cell phone and pager. I decided to take the cell and give it to my Mom because she was still driving back then. I got the phone with no problems but they did pull a hard on my EQ. Some pre-approval!
I started local service here with AT&T Local and they also pulled a hard on Equifax. Neither my Electric or Cable pulled an inquiry though.
Most utilities have monthly payment options which make things really easy. Most likely, they would report this monthly payment on your credit report. You could still prepay. Your payment is the same every month. One month of the year, they will bill, or credit, the difference between your estimate and what you actually used. They use a year's average to come up with your monthly payment, so it's usually pretty close.
