I signed up for credit karma a few months ago. Today I went to the website to check on my credit score and saw that my credit(?) was pulled for a bank (comenity) for Meijer. I do not have a Meijer card and never had. I haven’t applied for a credit card lately, although I changed my Verizon bill to my name and found out they did a credit pull for that even though I’ve been a customer forever. I do have a credit card (talbots) through Comenity.
So I am wondering how to handle this? Do I call Comenity? Do I report to the credit reporting agency? Wondering how to check on this. Would a company do a credit pull even though I never applied? Maybe to offer me a credit card?
I’ve never even checked my credit score until recently. I checked on the credit pulls because it said my credit was being pulled too much. I don’t apply for many cards but did refinanced my mortgage which was fine and approved right away. I had no idea about Verizon though.
More than likely Meijer is doing a pre-approved credit card marketing campaign, and what you are seeing is a soft pull of your credit to help them decide which card (if any) to offer you. Soft pulls don’t affect your credit score, and they don’t need your permission to pull to do it.
Does Credit Karma differentiate between hard and soft pulls in their reports?
If you are worried about it, sure, give the bank a call, or the credit agency. Hopefully you can connect with to someone who will be able to answer your questions.
@deb922: What do you mean, you “signed up for credit karma”? Did you sign up for them to notify you if something occurs with your credit? Or did you simply log on to see your credit history? If it’s the former, then they should have informed you of this credit inquiry.
Only if it is a hard pull (applied for credit). If I pull my credit report, there are often 20 or more soft pulls for things like airline affinity cards or insurance companies. Those are not counted against credit. I don’t think putting a hold on your account stops them either.
@VeryHappy about 6 months ago, I applied for a capital one credit card because the visa I had did not have a chip and charged foreign transaction fees. We were going to Europe so we needed another card. When I applied for that card they gave me a large credit limit but at a high interest rate. I was annoyed to say the least since we had just refinanced our mortgage and my credit score was over 800. But here, they said my credit score was quite a bit lower.
After that I signed up for credit karma to keep an eye on my credit score. I think I asked here and it was something that was recommended.
I got an email from credit karma, saying how great my credit was. I went to their site and find that there was a pull from Comenity. That’s what I was surprised about and wondered if it was something to act on or worry about.
I hope that explains my process. No email or snail mail that there had been any activity on my credit score. Whenever I’ve applied for credit, it seems like I’ve received some kind of notice.
Agree with the others, it’s probably a soft pull and doesn’t effect your credit score. However, if you are concerned at all, you could get a copy of your report from www.annualcreditreport.com.
The reports you get from there are very specific as to whether it’s seen by only you (i.e. a soft pull).
Make sure you don’t click on anything on the CK site that asks if you want to see how they can help you “fill in the blank” or if you want to see “offers” from banks or credit card companies. Either of those will generate a hard check because you’ve just been tricked into applying for credit at one of their sponsor companies.
CK is a decent site as long as you know not to take the sponsor bait. You should check your credit monthly. You’ll get to know what’s on your report and you’ll notice any unusual activity right away.