I bought a new car from a reputable new car dealership, with cash. I was very up front with the salesman (before we even began negotiating) that I was not interested in financing, and that I would be paying out of pocket. I reiterated this throughout the course of negotiation and filling paperwork. Once we agreed on a price, I asked him if I should supply cash, or a personal check, or a cashier's check. He said that a personal check would be sufficient. Fine with me.
At some point he asked me to fill out a Credit Application Check. I declined, since I was paying cash, but he insisted that it was mandatory, even for cash buyers, for a government anti-terrorist background check. A quick google indicates that this is true (OFAC / Patriot Act), but does not require a _credit check_. I explicitly asked him if it would result in a hard pull, as I don't want to affect my credit, and he assured me that it would not. So I filled out the form.
I supplied a personal check, signed paperwork and took possession of the vehicle. Hours later, I got a Credit Karma alert for a hard pull from the dealership! Surprising and frustrating to say the least. I'm planning on disputing the credit check, but I've never done that and not sure if it will be successful.
Do I have any other recourse here? I found an older reddit thread that says this is outright illegal and will hold up in small claims court. Does anyone here have experience with this?
Edit: what’s the big deal with a credit pull? Oops, I should have mentioned: I am aiming to refinance my mortgage soon to take advantage of a lower rate. My mortgage is only 10 months old, and I rate shopped originally, so I have a bunch of legitimate hard pulls from that already.
One of the reasons I bought the car with cash was to minimize changes to my credit during this refinance.
Submitted September 24, 2019 at 11:07PM by guynamedloren https://ift.tt/2kX7Wqp
