Thread: Hard pull without permission by credit card company

I was on my credit card company's website and attempted to increase my credit limit. None of the pages disclosed that my request would requite a hard pull on my credit report. After two hours on the phone arguing with the credit card company, they promised to look into it.

Today I received a call from the corporate office and they said that I was right and that it is indeed an error on their part.

I know this is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and want to know what I should demand out of this. I also think that all other members should be compensated as well for the Company's violation.

Input?

you asked for an increase, I DON'T blame your company for the hard pull. you shouldn't demand anything.
just use your cards, but don't go near your limit.

I got increases by not using my limits.

Credit increases initiated by the user almost exclusively require a hard pull. I bet there was a notice somewhere or maybe their website had a glitch.

The best way to increase your credit limit is to use your credit card efficiently. I don't go beyond my limit or use up my limit and I always pay the total amount monthly. With the good record, the issuing company increases my credit limit yearly.

Money card - Your answer was pointless.
naomibatac - Your answer was irrelevant.

zapper_89 - You are right about a Disclaimer, however they did not have a disclaimer on the website. TODAY I went back on the site and they just put one up.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) states that any company that plans to pull your credit report is required to notify you of this intent and most will ask for your signature as proof of written consent.

Without this notification, it it a breach and shouldn't all customers of this company be notified that their rights (established by FCRA) have been violated.

What is the proper course of action on this? A class action suit?

Your chances of winning any kind of dispute against them are slim. Even if they violated the FCRA, the penalties for that kind of violation are very minor. In a dispute, in my opinion, this kind of thing would be looked at as a minor administrative error. If you could document an actual financial loss then you might be able to get them to take further action but that is about it.

I have won actions against a company for violation of the FCRA. It can be done. But the absolute best you will get is a removal of the hard pull and I'm not even sure that is possible since there are other laws that require pulls be recorded. The reporting agencies could argue they have no way to remove the pulls without violating other laws. If your credit card company did it maliciously like some car dealers used to do, then you might have a case. But from your own description I'd say you should just move on and drop it.

If you are patient and use credit responsibly this will be gone in two years or less. Trying to correct it could take that long and would likely cost you quite a bit.

My largest concern is that this company has been pulling THOUSANDS, maybe even HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of credit reports for people requesting an increase in credit limits, WITHOUT the customer knowing it.

In the past I have considered credit line increases on other cards, however as soon as I see the "This request will require your credit report to be pulled", then I decide not to do the line increase request.

Shouldn't the company be required to notify ALL of their customers that attempted to make a credit line increase, that there was negligence on the part of the credit card company?

I guarantee some of the members on this site have been affected by it.

bsternad - i applaud you for having a 2 hour conversation with the cc company. however, demanding something is a bit of an adolescent request. what ever happened to accepting ones apology?

as mentioned chances of you getting anything out of this is slim to none. according to your statement your cc company made a mistake. assuming they apologized i would just let it be.

we seem to have created a world where an apology is no longer an sincere act.