Soft Credit Check

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by FeliceRodo, May 26, 2001.

  1. FeliceRodo

    FeliceRodo Well-Known Member

    When a credit card company do a soft credit check to see if you are paying your other lenders on time, can they see your balance and limit with them?

    Thanks in advance for a reply.
     
  2. Momof3

    Momof3 Well-Known Member


    Yes they can see your other accounts.
     
  3. VJ

    VJ Well-Known Member

    Much of this is subjective , but I to believe they can see everything in a soft inquiry.

    Thinking out loud, what they don't get is a CRA generated,
    proprietary fico score in a soft inquiry.

    VJ
     
  4. DaveLV

    DaveLV Well-Known Member

    This is one of the reasons given to me by Capital One that they do not report limits.
     
  5. Momof3

    Momof3 Well-Known Member

    Are they "trying" to say that other creditors don't see your limits so that's why they don't report them?? If so Cap 1 is a load of crap!!

    No offense to you of course, this just drives me nuts about Cap 1.
     
  6. Marie

    Marie Well-Known Member

    I was told by someone I trust (used to work for Cap1) that there are 2 reasons they don't report limits.

    Their "prime" cardholders have higher limits and unless they max their cards, they can hide part of their available credit from other creditors (thus getting more total avail credit).

    And, of course, it's a very competitive market. they're protecting their cardholders from competing offers by doing this. If all potential cardholders can see your Cap1 limits, then they'll likely offer you the same or more to entice you to switch companies.

    So their "politically correct" answer is to protect us. But I think the bigger picture is to protect their customer database from completely fleeing Cap1 for better offers.

    My opinion includes the fact that not reporting limits artificially drives down our scores, making other credit offers more limited, and our cost of credit higher w/all our companies. Makes more money for them all.
     
  7. marci

    marci Well-Known Member

    Excellent post, Marie. And your conclusion is right on point.
     
  8. mj

    mj Well-Known Member

    Marci's right - that's what a few friends "in the industry" have told me.

    The soft inquiry thing - some companies (like FDS/Macy's) only get scores and specific info (i.e. "# new cards in last 4 months, %ratios). A rep I spoke w/at Amex said they have to pull the report (hard inq.) to see the "whole picture"

    -mj
     
  9. judyputy

    judyputy Well-Known Member

    I was under the impression that they see everything, since First USA pulls a soft inquiry every month so they can see how I pay my OTHER cards.

    You know, so they can hit you with rate increases if you fail to pay on time to ANY of your other cards. I know they don't pull a hard inquiry. But, they do see everything. Luckily I don't pay late, so they can't up that interest on me. They are paid off anyway. I just keep them open for the extra $$ for the debt ratio that a 10,000 clean cards gives me.
     

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