While shopping for a credit card or loan, finally, these words flash across your computer screen, “You’ve been approved for a credit card.” Or you open a letter to see those same magical words, written in bold, “You’ve been approved for a credit card.”
Imagine the thrill you’d feel to know you’re getting a chance for some new plastic to buy goods on credit.
But according to the Federal Trade Commission(FTC), consumers who received “pre-approved” credit offers from Credit Karma weren’t approved for credit. Consumers who applied for pre-approved credit cards spent fruitless time doing so because their credit scores dropped significantly when their applications were denied, a denial that results from a “hard inquiry” against their credit report.
Earlier this year, FTC hammered out a tentative lawsuit settlement against Credit Karma for a whopping $3 million stemming from the company’s deceptive trade practice. The announcement of the settlement happened on September, 1st, 2022.
Pre-Approved Credit
Does a Credit Card Preapproval Offer Guarantee You’ll Get It? – NerdWallet
“Credit Karma’s false claims of pre-approval credit cost consumers time and subjected them to unnecessary credit checks,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC will continue its crackdown on digital dark patterns that harm consumers and pollute online commerce.”
Dark patterns involve the use of an interface designed to deceive users in non-intuitive ways. These unique patterns were the focus of a workshop held last year for the public by FTC. Evidence showed almost one-third of pre-approved offers resulted in denials.
Credit Karma Denies Allegations
Credit Karma representatives categorically denied the allegations of fraud yet still the company settled anyway.
“We fundamentally disagree with the FTC’s allegations about marketing terms that aren’t even in use anymore,” explained Susannah Wright, to news media outlets. Wright serves as chief legal officer at Credit Karma.
Credit Karma provides tools allowing consumers to monitor their credit scores and credit reports. People signing up for Credit Karma’s services provide the company with personal information which allows them to compile over 2,500 data points on each consumer, including credit and income information.
Next, the company utilized the collected information to send targeted advertisements and recommendations for financial products such as credit cards. – Get your free score and more – CreditKarma
FTC Lawsuit
The FTC lawsuit alleged that Credit Karma deceived people nationwide by falsely claiming they had been selected for a pre-approved or had “90% odds” of approval for credit cards or loans offered by banks and lenders that used CreditKarma to promote their financial products.
These pre-approved offers, according to the FTC, tricked consumers into applying for offers that, in many ways, the consumers did not qualify for.
The FTC order requires Credit Karma to pay $ 3 million to be disbursed to consumers who wasted time applying for Karma’s credit cards and for the company to cease making such false pre-approval claims.
The lawsuit further alleges that, from February 2018 until April 2021, CreditKarma falsely told consumers they’d been “pre-approved” for the credit offers which led individuals to apply, and since the individuals didn’t qualify this also resulted in a hard inquiry placed on their credit reports, and, thereafter, the hard inquiry damaged their credit scores unnecessarily.
FTC also accused Credit Karma of knowing that their “pre-approvals” conveyed false certainty to people based on the results of experiments, a concept also known as A/B testing that shows consumers were more likely to click on offers saying “pre-approved” than those that said they had excellent odds of being approved.
FTC investigators said Karma violated “Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by falsely representing that consumers were pre-approved for credit offers or had, as mentioned earlier, 90% odds of approval.”
The link below describes each allegation leveled against the company.
Will Pre-approved Inquiries Affect Credit Scores?
The FTC investigation resulted in other accusations as well. Investigators said Credit Karma’s shady tactics caused some credit scores belonging to individuals to suffer damage because pre-approved offers can cause a lender to do a hard inquiry on a person’s credit report.
Pre-approved offers for credit, personal loans, and credit cards are everywhere these days. But the pressing question boils down this way: do pre-approved inquiries affect credit score? Here’s the answer; inquiries for pre-approved offers do not hurt your credit score unless an application is submitted to apply for the special offered credit.
Actually, the fine print that is neatly buried into the pre-approved offer is not always a real pre-approval. Anyone receiving pre-approved offers must fill out an application prior to credit being granted.
The pre-approved process simply means the lender identified a person as a potential candidate for possible credit based on credit report information.
When applications are filled out with an attached pre-approved offer there are two kinds of credit inquiries; a soft inquiry and a hard inquiry.
Hard Inquiries
A hard inquiry is often used by lenders when individuals apply for a credit card or loan such as a mortgage or a car loan. Hard inquiries indicate the person is considering taking on additional debt. Potential lenders can view hard inquiries. The truth of the matter is the undeniable fact that pre-approved offers are typically referred to as a “prescreening” for loaning credit.
Soft Inquiries
A lender conducts a soft inquiry while deciding to pre-approve someone for a credit card etc. Other soft inquiries occur when a credit report is pulled for review or when a debt collector checks a credit report for recent activity.
Difference Between A Hard Inquiry and Soft Inquiry
What’s The Difference Between A Hard And Soft Credit Check? – Forbes Advisor
How to Opt-out of Pre-Approved Offers
People have a right to change their mind. So if consumers later decline after receiving pre-approved credit card offers, Federal law allows them to opt-out for five years at a time. It is easy to opt-out by calling 888-5-OPT-OUT(888-567-8688) or visiingt www.optoutprescreen.com. Consumers can also opt out of pre-approved insurance offers.
The irony of the situation is that the FTC accused Credit Karma representatives of knowing in advance that consumers were being denied pre-approved credit.
FTC recalls how one complainant put it, “I was declined credit for a pre-approved credit card.”
How could this happen when Credit Karma assured customers they were already pre-approved for credit?
NewsBlaze Senior Business Reporter Clarence Walker can be reached at [email protected]
