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Maybe it's different for car dealers because I can't pull without SS number. I dont even mess around unless I have DL, SS card, release from client to run credit. I would be livid if someone pulled my credit especially if I specifically forbid them from doing so. I'm glad I have life lock so I would get a warning if someone was pulling my credit.
I still think there was some "permission" paper slipped in the pile.
My office has an actual Experian account for pulling credit reports directly from the source. The only two fields that are required are name and address. We fill in SS# as well, always, but it isn't a required field.
You have remedies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
There's a $1000 limit if pulling your credit was done erroneously, but you can sue for actual damages, attorney's fees, court costs and punitive damages. You should contact an attorney versed in consumer law. I would do it simply to teach these slimebags a lesson.
As an aside, why do people bother to respond to questions on C-D with the sneering "you should have known better" type responses?
You would have to prove how and what amount you were damaged to. Like, it damaged my credit causing me to miss xyz opportunity...And I don't think you could prove that. I would seriously file the complaints but wouldn't hassle with the lawsuit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Garfunkle524
This is what I'm going to do. However, what I really care about is getting the hard inquiry removed. Is it possible for them to remove the inquiry? If it was I'd probably just threaten with a complaint until they removed it.
How much does a hard inquiry hurt my credit score?
Not noticeably, probably, and not nearly as much as most people seem to think, and they don't tend to last. What damaged it (as far as I saw in my experience in auto finance) was when some guy would have 17 inquiries on his report in recent history from filling out credit apps at 17 different dealers.
So after we agreed on a price, they handed me a credit application. I told them I wasn't going to fill it out since I absolutely will not be financing the car. They said "no problem, just fill out your name and address so we can put you in our system." Mind you, I didn't sign any of the blanks or provide SSN or anything. About 30 minutes later as I was about to write the check they handed me the credit score disclosure with my credit score. I was pretty mad that they still ran my credit after telling them many times not to. The next day, I get an alert from my ID surveillance service that there was a hard pull noted on Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. Needless to say I was furious.
This is common. That's not to say it's acceptable. I hope you didn't write the check and buy the car. If you did, they were deprived of their only real penalty. Next time, don't fill it out. Better still, next time, the second time they bring up financing, tell them if they mention it again, you will walk. And really do it. The best weapon against car dealers is walking.
Young people just have a hard time getting past the reality that it's okay to be rude to the car dealership. They nearly always deserve it, and it doesn't hurt their feelings; those were beaten out of them years ago. No matter how nice they might seem right now, do remember that their objective is to present the worst possible deal (for you) that you will accept. Your goal and theirs do not align; you are enemies. I find it best not to think of them as humans.
Learn to hate them at a young age, and treat them like the criminals they are, and you will be on the path to a proper relationship with them.
Also, for what its worth, the dealer I worked at did require a credit check if the buyer was writing a personal check for the car.
The credit check didn't guarantee that the check was good, just as good credit doesn't guarantee to your insurance company that you're a good driver, but the thinking was that a buyer with great credit wouldn't bounce a check to us and a guy with a 497 credit score might be a good one to verify funds.
The GM of the store, when challenged on it by a customer, simply said, "I'm accepting a personal check from you for $32 thousand dollars. If you wish to come in with a cashiers check or arrange another source of funding, we can go that route."
Also, for what its worth, the dealer I worked at did require a credit check if the buyer was writing a personal check for the car.
The credit check didn't guarantee that the check was good, just as good credit doesn't guarantee to your insurance company that you're a good driver, but the thinking was that a buyer with great credit wouldn't bounce a check to us and a guy with a 497 credit score might be a good one to verify funds.
The GM of the store, when challenged on it by a customer, simply said, "I'm accepting a personal check from you for $32 thousand dollars. If you wish to come in with a cashiers check or arrange another source of funding, we can go that route."
Where I bought my car, they said that personal checks required the credit check because if the check bounced they would put financing in place. The fact that I could prove that my bank acct. had TWICE the out the door price wasn't enough, because, they said, "I could clean the account out at any time".
Apparently it did not occur to them that, if I really wanted to steal a car, I could freeze my credit at any point too.
But everything went fine in the end once I got the certified check.
Also, for what its worth, the dealer I worked at did require a credit check if the buyer was writing a personal check for the car.
The credit check didn't guarantee that the check was good, just as good credit doesn't guarantee to your insurance company that you're a good driver, but the thinking was that a buyer with great credit wouldn't bounce a check to us and a guy with a 497 credit score might be a good one to verify funds.
The GM of the store, when challenged on it by a customer, simply said, "I'm accepting a personal check from you for $32 thousand dollars. If you wish to come in with a cashiers check or arrange another source of funding, we can go that route."
This.
I don't know why anyone would be shocked that a dealer would require to pull credit if you're paying with personal check - they'd be total idiots not to. And if you don't like it, this is precisely why cashier's checks were invented.
I recently purchased a car without financing. I was very insistent on not financing it. I feel like every time I spoke to the particular salesman or visited the dealer they pushed hard on the "why not just finance the car?" question. I always pushed back. EVERY TIME. I specifically asked them not to pull my credit multiple times during the transaction.
So after we agreed on a price, they handed me a credit application. I told them I wasn't going to fill it out since I absolutely will not be financing the car. They said "no problem, just fill out your name and address so we can put you in our system." Mind you, I didn't sign any of the blanks or provide SSN or anything. About 30 minutes later as I was about to write the check they handed me the credit score disclosure with my credit score. I was pretty mad that they still ran my credit after telling them many times not to. The next day, I get an alert from my ID surveillance service that there was a hard pull noted on Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. Needless to say I was furious.
So, do I have any recourse against them? How much of a hit did my credit score take?
They did that to me too. All I was doing was negotiating a trade in FOR CASH but I didn't have my payoff amount. I even SAID I may not be buying today I just had some spare time to look around.
The SALESMAN (not even the finance person) said he'd access my account and give me the payoff amount and PULLED CREDIT even though I had told them a million times I wasn't doing that.
I only owed about 2500, or less, too!
I had NO recourse and the dealership owner didn't care one bit. Later, I did do the formal complaint.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 03-30-2016 at 08:15 AM..
Also, for what its worth, the dealer I worked at did require a credit check if the buyer was writing a personal check for the car.
The credit check didn't guarantee that the check was good, just as good credit doesn't guarantee to your insurance company that you're a good driver, but the thinking was that a buyer with great credit wouldn't bounce a check to us and a guy with a 497 credit score might be a good one to verify funds.
The GM of the store, when challenged on it by a customer, simply said, "I'm accepting a personal check from you for $32 thousand dollars. If you wish to come in with a cashiers check or arrange another source of funding, we can go that route."
It's not rocket science.
Dumb of the buyers.
If you have a BANK you can just get a cashiers check.
The DEALER has nothing to lose with a credit check and knows the customer is likely to walk out so that's the motivation.
In most states it's against the law to write a no good check. The dealer just doesn't want the aggravation and who can blame them.
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