Used Car Dealership Ruins Coworker's Credit Score

[LillFilly]

So, one of my newer coworkers bought a new used card.

She had to sign a paper agreeing to a credit check. She emphasized to them that she was signing this document once and it was only to be used to run her credit ONCE, since every time your score is run you lose points. Her score at that time was 699.

She got the car and was looking for an apartment. She was denied when they checked her score. She contacted the agencies and found that the used car place had run the credit check 27 times! She lost over 150 points off her score.

She now is going back and forth with the agencies to get the checks removed from her report, but also wants her previous score restored. She's also reported the car place. She's working on building her score back up in the meantime, applying for credit cards and such.

I wonder if they ran the check multiple times to lower her score, flag her as high-risk and charge her more in interest.

[drjonah]

That happened to me too. When I went to go purchase a used car, I agreed to let them run a credit check to finance my loan. What they forgot to tell me is that they are partnered with TEN different banks. ALL TEN BANKS ran a check on my score which tanked my score.

[fma_fanatic]

CreditBoards.com has an awesome forum that can help the co-worker get those unauthorized credit pulls removed. She'll have to be vigilant and keep on it, but it can be done. I highly suggest recommending her to visit their site and present their case there.


Sometimes all it takes is a strongly worded letter and these guys know exactly what they're doing.

[bainsidhe]

Usually, multiple credit inquiries for a car loan are lumped together and counted as one check, so long as they happen within a short period of time. Such a significant drop in her score suggests something else is going on. She should also review her credit reports, to see what other accounts might have been checked, opened, or listed as delinquent.

[LillFilly]

Usually, multiple credit inquiries for a car loan are lumped together and counted as one check, so long as they happen within a short period of time. Such a significant drop in her score suggests something else is going on. She should also review her credit reports, to see what other accounts might have been checked, opened, or listed as delinquent.

She has full reports from all the agencies; I saw them. The only history to cause the credit drop was the credit checks done by the car place.

[HotelMinion]

Oh really I didn't know that!
No wonder my credit when down in the dumps after I bought my car and took out my mortgage. I thought I'd been ID-thieved, I was worried. :\
Geez, it seems that EVERYTHING you do can hurt your score lately

[fma_fanatic]

Usually, multiple credit inquiries for a car loan are lumped together and counted as one check, so long as they happen within a short period of time. Such a significant drop in her score suggests something else is going on. She should also review her credit reports, to see what other accounts might have been checked, opened, or listed as delinquent.

It can happen. When DaDairyDruid and I were getting ready to buy a house, I saw that our credit reports had been pulled multiple times. I had to call the mortgage broker and mention it that unless they had a reason for pulling it more than once, the others were not with a permissible purpose. They managed to get those taken off.

Either someone goofed (sort of likely) or they felt that running the same report 27 times for 27 different lenders was prudent (more likely and overkill).

[Ceir]

Y'know, I've never been able to understand why just checking your credit score lowers it. Even in preparation for a loan, if no money has changed hands...

[MoonCat]

Y'know, I've never been able to understand why just checking your credit score lowers it. Even in preparation for a loan, if no money has changed hands...

Yeah, that makes no sense to me either. Especially since you don't always have control over a lot of this. Last time I checked mine, there was a bunch of mentions on there about credit cards being offered. Not signed up for, nobody had done that; just a list of OFFERED cards, none of which I had applied for. How is it my fault that I keep getting these offers sent to me?

[mathnerd]

Y'know, I've never been able to understand why just checking your credit score lowers it. Even in preparation for a loan, if no money has changed hands...

It can look like lenders are declining to offer credit if your report is pulled too many times over too short a time frame. It's stupid, but that's the reason.

[Argus]

Not signed up for, nobody had done that; just a list of OFFERED cards, none of which I had applied for. How is it my fault that I keep getting these offers sent to me?

Which is why at least one credit agency makes those spontaneous checks visible only to you and leaves them out of credit score calculations.

[dalesys]

... but that's the reasonir-rationale.

Fixed it for truth.

[TimmyHate]

It can look like lenders are declining to offer credit if your report is pulled too many times over too short a time frame. It's stupid, but that's the reason.

This is the case when you get multiple enquiries from various lenders - credit shopping. Multiple from one lender is just bull.

The worst I ever saw was the following all in the space of about 2 weeks.

Bank 1
Bank 2
Bank 3
Bank 4
Second tier 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 And 8
Third tier lenders 1,2,3,4
Borderline Loan Shark

[Silent-Hunter]

See, there needs to be legal regulations saying what they can and CANNOT use as a reason for lowering your score. Literally anything other than defaulting on a loan or line of credit should not be allowed to lower it one bit.