Remember Me
forgot your password?

What You Need to Know to Prevent Car Dealers, and Other Finance Sources, From Accessing Your Credit Reports Without Your Permission

More and more, people arrange for their own financing before buying cars or other big-ticket consumer items (boats, refrigerators, etc.) In my own opinion, this is a superior idea. However, such consumers then fill out credit applications at the dealership, which in turn pulls the consumer’s credit and lowers the consumer’s credit score with a “hard pull”. This is entirely unnecessary.

I have received many calls over the years from consumers who tell me (and I generally believe them) that they verbally told the dealership not to pull the credit report, but the dealer does anyway. Can they do anything? Usually, no. I address this problem in a very recent correspondence with a woman named Rebecca, which follows:

“Dear Mr. Brennan, I have a questions I went to a dealership to buy a car, did not do business with them financially I already had my loan from the credit union and I told them this, thy promised me they wouldn’t pull my credit or touch anything like that. Once I signed the paper work from them to send the buyers order and sticker to my credit union etc. I came to work the next morning had got notice that the dealership pulled my credit regardless and its showing on all 3 bureu’s what can I do? Signed, Rebecca”

“Dear Rebecca, if you signed something from the dealer authorizing them to pull your credit, there’s not a lot you can do. Unfortunately at many car lots, etc., the authorization to pull your credit is in small print and you would not normally notice it unless you were specifically looking for it. I usually advise consumers to specifically look for and cross out the language giving the dealer the right to pull a credit report, if indeed the consumer is not going to be applying for financing through the dealer. If the consumer already has his or her own loan, there’s absolutely no reason for the dealer to pull credit, but dealers will often pull credit anyway to find out how much they can upcharge the consumer with worthless add-ons on their loan, such as window etchings, leather treatment, etc.

“However, the moral of this story is, don’t rely on verbal assurances that the dealer will not pull credit. You need to read through the purchase contract, or other dealer documents, and find the language allowing them to pull credit, and cross it off. Or, give them a letter with your signature stating that you positively do not grant them permission to pull credit, and obviously keep a copy for yourself. It needs to be in writing to get anywhere with an unauthorized credit access claim.”

Robert F. Brennan

Robert F.
Brennan, Esq. is a principal with Brennan, Wiener & Associates, an AV-rated law
firm in La Crescenta, CA.

Rate this Article: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish


  • Latest Health and Safety Articles
  • More from Robert F. Brennan

Making The Most Out Of Your Cheap Discount Travel Vacation

By: Brad Alexzander | 24/12/2009
You are about to Discover cheap discount travel techniques that guarantee big savings on cheap travel vacations, international flights, holiday accommodation, and recommended discount vacation offers.

Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer To Handle Your Defective Product Case

By: Colin Daives | 23/12/2009
Whenever you or someone you know has been hurt by a company's defective product, the initial step you may end up taking is hiring yourself a personal injury lawyer. However, the law dealing with defective products is rather complicated and when you have no real background into dealing personal injury law, you can miss out on the kind of compensation you're entitled to get.

Insurance Fraud = Fraudulent

By: Ethan Kalvin | 22/12/2009
Have you any idea what the voracity of health insurance is in this country. Well its massive, and you wonder why your premiums are so high. There are many to blame and whoever they are they are crooks. Health insurance fraud committed by people that are looking to make some kind of fake claim and collect from the insurance company for these claims. This takes all kinds, it could be a doctor, individuals and even companies.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship

By: Albert Matthews | 21/12/2009
t's widely known that kung fu skills has indeed come a ways over time. Many years back, Bruce Lee helped the humanities become even more well known

Birth defects resulting from medical malpractice

By: Suzanne Greenfield | 15/12/2009
The birth of your baby should be one of the greatest experiences of your life. An expectant mother will do everything she can to ensure the safe delivery of her child, making sure she is in the best health, that she knows all the best techniques to keep herself as calm as possible during labour and that her baby has the best start to life as possible.

The issues involved with making a medical malpractice claim

By: Suzanne Greenfield | 15/12/2009
It’s a subject no one ever wants to consider when thinking about our healthcare. We put our lives and wellbeing in the hands of medical staff everyday and we rely on getting the very best treatment during illness or an emergency.

health and safety - the big wide world

By: Craig Baldwin | 14/12/2009
health and safety why is it so difficult to explain

health and safety - the big wide world

By: Craig Baldwin | 14/12/2009
health and safety why is it so difficult to explain

Submit Your Articles Free: Signup
Article Categories




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.03, 0, w3)