-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a CC with a major bank that just pulled a hard Experian report. I haven't asked for any CLIs or really done anything with this account to warrant the hard pull besides making my minimum payments on my 0% BT. I called them and after being transferred around four times, I finally got an answer. They admit to the pull, but not sure as to why it was done. They did say they do occasionally review accounts and have the right to pull my report. She also said that this pull came from their "corporate office" which didn't make much sense and she couldn't remove it herself. I tried to explain to the CSR in the credit management department the difference between a hard and a soft pull and she didn't seem to care. Said "I agreed to their terms which allows them to pull credit". I am sure there is a term that says they can perform account reviews and pull credit. But in no way do I feel this warrants them pulling hard reports and sticking inquiries on my report that lowers my credit scores, and tells other banks I may be looking for more credit. She said I could fax them a letter saying I am disputing the inquiry and they would forward it to the corporate office and maybe they will remove it. Frankly I don't feel to confident that they are going to do that based on the tone of her voice. I want to file the paperwork to collect the $1,000 fine that I should be owed for violation of the FCRA, plus any additional damages. I have no problem walking over to the town hall to file a small claims against this bank. My score dropped a few points, but I also had some Citi cards closed a few weeks ago due to "too many recent inquiries". I promosed them a few weeks ago that there would be no more new account inquiries. This new inquiry is going to look REALLY bad if they see this. Plus I already have enough Experian inquiries, I really don't need any more. Thanks for reading and I am really looking forward to learning quite a bit on this site.
If you have an account with them, they have a PP to pull at anytime. Unless you have damages, you have no cause of action. You are not entitled to $1000 read section 616 of the FCRA. If you file a lawsuit, what are your damages? The FCRA does not distinguish between a "hard" or "soft" pull, the various scoring models do. Write them a NON threating letter asking the to recode it as an AR.
My score dropped a couple of points. It makes it look like I am applying for new credit to other banks. I recently had accounts closed for having too many inquiries. Aren't those enough damages? What if more accounts on my credit report show as closed because of too many inquiries? Shouldn't this bank be a fault?
You have an business relationship with the bank. Read section 604, they can pull. Granted they should code it as an AR, but they are not required to.
Well that's the point... they should have coded it as an AR. But they didn't. If every bank I have a credit card with did this every 30 days (pull hard instead of AR)... my credit would be trashed in a matter of months.
SinnerInMe how many Inquires did citi define as to many ? that kind of disturbs me. Did you run a high balance on any of them ? I know citi has a policy where they don't allow you to apply for more than one card within a period of time. It's thier way of blocking potential identity theft, so maybe they thought you were a risk due to x amount of inquiries in x period of time.
It is not illegal under the FCRA, as Enigma stated. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if they should code it as an AR. In other words, you have no cause of action at least under the FCRA. Negligence maybe but, that would be a very dubious claim at best. With respect to Citibank, you can apply for no more than three accounts in a 90 day period.
Citi was more pissed off that I opened a number of new accounts and had a ton of new inquiries. Granted I did a sucessful App-O-Rama and I am well aware of the concequences regarding that. I don't have an issue with Citi closing my accounts. What I have an issue with is this new hard inquiry that is there for literally no reason IMO. All it's going to do is alert my other banks that I may be looking for new credit while carrying a ton of balances. I am not happy over this. I am going to fax them a letter asking them to recode the inquiry. While I am not going to threaten them... I am not going to be too thrilled with my letter and I am going to "strongly recommend" that they recode this inquiry. If they don't... I am taking them to court regardless if they have PP or not. I can definitely cite damages in court if need be and maybe i'll get a sympathetic judge. And if I wind up with additional account closures... I am no doubt going to court. Worth the $20 filing fee IMO.
You're missing the point. It takes a violation and damages suffered by extension of the aforesaid violation. You have no violation. You're case will be dismissed and if you fight the MTD very aggressively, you may have opposing fees and costs imposed against you. You will not get a sympathetic judge. You will have a pissed of one at that point for clogging his or her docket with non-actionable claims.
Read the FRCA. As I said before, you have an account with them. They can pull as many times as they desire, they have a PP. Granted, it's not right, but the have the law and case law on their side you don't!
BTW - piss'em off enough they may close all your accounts with them and demand payment in full immediately.
Ok thanks for the posts. I am still going to send in the letter asking them to remove this inquiry and I will fire a letter off to Experian asking the bank to document their PP for this inquiry. Regardless of whether they have PP or not... I still think its a total joke that they hit me with this inquiry. Like I said previously... if every bank I have a CC with did this every 30 days my credit would be trashed in a matter of months. There are reasons why the soft inquiry was established and this particular bank decided to not follow this.
Oh, you're correct in a factual sense. However, in a legal sense, you would be asking for trouble since their is no cause of action. You may obtain one against Experian though insofar as they will not re-investigate the inquiry. They call it a "statement of fact." Failing to re-investigate items such as inquiries seems to violate the FCRA. Is it worth suing over one inquiry . . . maybe. Depends on the damage. In any event, I am sorry to keep being the bearing of bad news but, rest assured that we do agree that this practice is wrong. We just want to steer you clear of making the problem even more profound.
I am actually drafting the letter to Experian now asking them to investigate and remove this inquiry. Yes I know I probably won't get anywhere... but you never know I suppose.
