Forums | MacLife

sparkn wrote:

TC1: 

Federal Trade Commission wrote:

Have you applied for new credit recently? Many scoring models consider whether you have applied for credit recently by looking at “inquiries” on your credit report when you apply for credit. If you have applied for too many new accounts recently, that may negatively affect your score. However, not all inquiries are counted. Inquiries by creditors who are monitoring your account or looking at credit reports to make “prescreened” credit offers are not counted.

Excerpted from here.

Here's a sample letter for anyone trying to remove unauthorized inquiries.

If you'd like to read the law on your own, I suggest the FCRA itself.  Click the second link to download a short pdf from the FTC regarding this information.

"Selling" or "sharing" your information is not the same as obtaining a credit report.  The credit report is already in their hands and they are passing it around to "affiliates" to try and make a quick buck off someone who may have remaining "allowable" credit they can suck from your paycheck.  In fact, their are many cases where fraudulent companies (including credit "repair" companies) convince you to apply for credit with the sole purpose of denying you and selling the information.  It's illegal.  It happens.  And these people know how to fly like the wind.  Car dealerships are a prime source for obtaining customer information.  What do they care when the credit is being extended by a third party?  They get a check and are through with you.  So what if you go bankrupt tomorrow.

I'm sitting here, and I'm left wondering why this post was directed toward me...

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

I'm sitting here, and I'm left wondering why this post was directed toward me...

I got off on a tangent of the original thought, which was just that those extra inquiries don't actually affect the FICO score.  I was just wanting to add to what you said, no rebut it.  Sorry.

Reading it again, it does seem to be a cranky mood type of response.  I must've gotten off work late that night.

OK, so how many people are doing offers like this? Has anyone received anything yet?

If you are, please post a generic description of the promotion, and your current status.

[short version]
I'm at (almost) 6 weeks and waiting.


[details]
I'm at nearly 6 weeks after confirmation (Monday, November 7 marks 6 weeks). I've emailed occasionally with some questions about the status, and every time, I've received a courteous and prompt reply asking me to check back after 6-8 weeks.

Inquiry for credit and "prescreening" and "monitoring" are separate issues altogether.  The FTC has specific guidelines for inquiry for credit and no Credit Agreement between you and a creditor gives a third party permission to also do an inquiry for credit.  Even a creditor cannot perform another inquiry for credit without your approval.  Third parties, however, can do a "prescreen" and creditors can "monitor".  Neither of which affects your FICO... as previously posted in the quote from the Federal Trade Commission and elaborated upon in the links.

FINAL UPDATE:

THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!

I'll update this post with pics soon!


[edit for clarification: for those new-schoolers, the above colors are representative of the old "rainbow" Apple logo]

Last edited by CaptKevMan (2005-11-23 9:02 am)

CaptKevMan wrote:

FINAL UPDATE:

THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!
THE iBOOK IS HERE!!!

I'll update this post with pics soon!

LOL, they were right on the money with the eight weeks bit, eh?

Holy crap... That's truly incredible!  For less than $200, and about two months, you got a new iBook.  Are the specs current?

Congratulations!

WOOT! WOOT!

Nice job there!

How are the specs on it?

Hooray for you!

You are a Captain in my eyes.

Alright,  I was waiting to see if they actually came through before I got interested.  I'll follow along with the others and ask you to PM me the company info and link.  I'm thinkn' I'd like to try this out now and get one for the wifey.

Thanks

MtH

hmm.. send me the info via pm?

OK, folks: I've been given permission to post the link to the promotional site that I went through to get the iBook. Please keep in mind that this is not a referral scheme; it is entirely up to you to complete the required offers and follow up with the process.

Having said that, the site is...

<drumroll, please....>

EveryFreeGift

The people I've dealt with there are extremely friendly, and they've kept their word every step of the way...I've not had to pester, cajole, or rattle any chains. The worst that happened is that one of the advertising partners (one of the offers that I signed up for) failed to acknowledge that my offer was completed, but the people at EFG just asked me to submit some sort of proof that I completed the offer (which I had, of course, since I documented EVERYTHING along the way), and once I emailed them the documentation, they approved it right away.

Another thing to note is that the offers seem to have gotten a lot more varied. When I told my coworkers that the iBook did indeed arrive, a couple of them started signing up for the promotion, and there were new offers there that I would've gladly taken if they were available at the time I did it...so it's not like you're just tossing money toward the iBook...in a sense, it really is a "free" item, since the offers have value in and of themselves.

I'm going to wrap this thread up with a single written piece that will chronicle the whole experience from start to finish (it'll also be posted to my blog). Despite the fact that a client had shown me that this promotion was valid, I was skeptical...even while maintaining this thread...until the iBook actually showed up on Monday night. I started this whole process as an experiment, and I wanted to document it here so I could be the "guinea pig" for anyone else who wanted to give it a shot. I hope the information I've provided here proves helpful to some of you.

From an ethical perspective, while it might seem like a good idea to "stick it to the man" sometimes, this promotion is legitimate, and I would encourage anyone who participates to stick with at least one of the "term" offers for at least a few months, if only for karma's sake. For example, I've still got my BMG club membership, and I'll probably end up spending a bit more than I originally planned...but at least I'm building my CD collection up .

Good luck to everyone who tries this!