Unwanted credit inquiry
I took my son in the other day to open a teen checking account at Wells Fargo, where I am an existing customer. They said that I had to be on the account as well (presumably because my son is a minor) so I said ok. Prior to going in, I’d called their customer service to find out the details of the account, and to ask if they did a credit check. The representative explained that they use ChexSystems, but that they don’t do a credit check. I explained that I wanted to be sure that there wasn’t a credit check because I was thinking of applying for a mortgage in the next year or so. He reassured me that it was just ChexSystems, so I went on in to open the account with my son.
The next day, I get a credit watch notice from Equifax. When I login in to Equifax, I see this:
WELLS FARGO BANK-CBG has made an inquiry against your credit report on 08/28/2007. If you did not authorize this inquiry, contact WELLS FARGO BANK-CBG for clarification.
Guess I will be contacting Wells Fargo to see what’s what. I’m glad I keep an eye on my credit report and score so that at least I was alerted immediately.
August 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Oh, that is so annoying! Please let us know what happens when you call.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Here is a mostly complete list of institutions that do a hard pull:
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/260724
September 1st, 2007 at 6:58 am
Do you know from this report whether it’s a “hard” pull or a “soft” pull? I’ve found from checking my credit report that my bank periodically pulls a report, even though I have no loans from them. But I think these are soft pulls. Have you had your credit reporting service long enough to know what your bank’s habits are on credit pulls?
September 1st, 2007 at 9:57 am
Engineer, I believe it is a hard pull, since it’s in the section that says will be shown to potential creditors. I noticed that there are 2 others from the bank on the report too, right around the time I opened a savings account for my son.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
They do it all the time, the same happened to me, I opened three “replacement” accounts in April becuase somehow someone got access to my checking and savings account (sounded like an inside job to me) and as a result wanted to close the old ones. I asked them the same question …. Will it result in a hard credit check once only and the answer was yes. Guess what, they did three credit checks on the same day. Today I opened an account for my son, same question and guess what, I get a credit check against my name as well. What upsets me the most is that they are clueless as to what a “hard check” means and that it stays on file for two years.