Can a dealership do this?

I went down to a Honda dealer here in Lubbock, Texas, called Family Powersports about a week ago (this was before I bought my 929) looking at their used bikes.  I found an '05 CBR600RR with 1500 miles (beautiful bike) but the price wasn't right.  I told them I might consider it if they could come down on the price, and that I'd be paying cash.  So they took me to a manager and he told me about their "FUNancing" option, that I could pay half now with my cash and finance the other half, just as a second option if I decided for some reason that I'd need to hang onto some of that cash.  So I authorized them to do a credit check just so I could get info on interest rates and terms and all that, just so I had another option if I did decide I wanted to do that.  I ended up finding an '01 929 a day later and bought it, so you can imagine my surprise when I open my mail today and have a Honda FUNancing card with my name on it, and a "Congratulations on deciding to finance your new purchase!" letter.  I don't ever remember signing an agreement to apply for credit, I was told that my signature only authorized them to do a credit CHECK so I could get more specific info on rates and all that.  Can they do this, and what should I do about it?  I know that I can probably just cancel the card and tell them I don't need it, but should I report them to the Better Business Bureau or anything like that?  It just really pissed me off that they did this without my knowledge, and opening a new line of credit like this has a negative affect on my credit report and rating.  Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I'm fairly sure it will help your credit score. The more credit offered to you the higher your credit score will be. If you cancel it will negativly effect your credit score. I'd just destory your card and leave the credit open.

    I have to agree. If you haven't used the credit at all, it will not hurt you. It is important to keep it open so that your score is improved.

Cancelling it will not hurt your score. Before you start to argue with me be aware that I'm an Engineer with the biggest of the credit bureaus and I work with the Scorex application that renders your score.
 
Keeping it will not hurt but one thing to remember is that too many cards will definitely lower your score. If you already have 2 cards then get rid of this one. Another factor that hits your score directly is the % of available credit, not the dollar amount available. Keep a small number of big cards and keep them empty.

TheX:
 
Thanks for clarifying that for me.  I was pretty sure that's how it worked but wasn't exactly sure, thanks for the advice.  More than anything I'm just ticked off that they did this without my knowledge.  If there DOES happen to be a balance on the card, then I'm going in there tomorrow to pick up my '05 CBR600RR that I just paid $4000 for, and sell it for a nice profit :)

Guess I'm not quite sure what you're saying.. you say you authorized a credit check but not actually apply fun anything? Odds are pretty good you signed something authorizing tehm to run a credit check for the purposes of obtaining financing. I know with FUNancing they couldnt tell you anything about rates etc without actually getting you approved.
 
As far as whether you should cancel it or not, it depends your current credit situation. If you're young and without any established credit I'd keep it, and maybe even go buy a helmet or something on it and pay it back off so you can show a payment history on the account. If you already have a lot of established credit lines, I'd probably lose it just to keep you number of accounts down.
 
I run a motorcycle shop and have a long background in finance. If you wanna talk about it off line pm me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: racer212

Guess I'm not quite sure what you're saying.. you say you authorized a credit check but not actually apply fun anything? Odds are pretty good you signed something authorizing tehm to run a credit check for the purposes of obtaining financing. I know with FUNancing they couldnt tell you anything about rates etc without actually getting you approved.

As far as whether you should cancel it or not, it depends your current credit situation. If you're young and without any established credit I'd keep it, and maybe even go buy a helmet or something on it and pay it back off so you can show a payment history on the account. If you already have a lot of established credit lines, I'd probably lose it just to keep you number of accounts down.

I run a motorcycle shop and have a long background in finance. If you wanna talk about it off line pm me.

 
sorry if my first post confused you.. here's what happened.  he told me about the option to finance half of the purchase, i asked him what the interest rates were.  he had me fill a sheet out with my info and i asked him if i was applying for a credit card and he told me no, but that i had to sign that sheet for him to run a credit check to tell me what sort of interest rates i'd be receiving.  he was very clear that he was only running a credit check and i made him clarify that i wasn't applying for the FUNancing card, but i get a FUNancing card in the mail today.  i'm still fairly young (23) but i've had a credit history for about 5 years now.  when i was in high school and working for my dad, i realized that instead of paying cash for things, i could put them on a credit card and pay them off right away with my cash and build up credit that way.  i currently have two credit cards, one is a Citi card, the other is a Circuit City credit card that i opened up to receive 18 months no interest on a laptop for school.  would it be best for me to just cancel this card, or should i buy something on it and then pay it off?  there's a helmet at this dealership that i'm probably going to buy, so maybe i should put that on the FUNancing card and then cancel it when i pay it off.

RMR where do you live.    I'm in Lubbock and buy my oil at Family.   They have some nice bikes but never put the prices on them.

when you apply if you get authorized they give you the card no matter what. if you choose to use it thats your choice. it isn't (yes your approved) and then you say wether you want it or not. so just enjoy having credit good enough to get approved

im a finance manager at a car dealership and have worked for bank of america in the past in credit. if you have 2 open lines you could keep this one without really any adverse affect, it wont affect you negatively if you close it, but opening an dclosing numerous accounts in a ashort period WILL hurt you. theX is right, its the % of balances to the credit limits that is important, and not having tooo many open lines of credit.

thanks for the advice everyone, i just wasn't aware that i was applying for a credit card when he told me that i WASN'T applying for one.  i'm probably just going to keep the card for now because i gotta get a helmet and jacket for my fiance so she can ride with me, and i'll just pay that off and then close the card.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rangerscott

RMR where do you live.    I'm in Lubbock and buy my oil at Family.   They have some nice bikes but never put the prices on them.

 
i live in Lubbock, i'm on the west side of town near 4th and Milwaukee, pm me if you want to get together and ride sometime.  they do have some nice bikes at Family Powersports.  the '05 600RR i was looking at is probably gone by now, they just got it in about 2 weeks ago.  something one of the guys there told me about the price tag, you'll see 4 (or 5) numbers on the tag, if you read those numbers backwards that's the price.  they had an RC51 about a month ago that i was going to buy, and when i came back to work out a deal it was gone :(
 
 

I wouldn't cancel it but I would still confront the manager of the shop and ask for a copy of the sheet that says they had the right to apply you for the card. If they can't provide that, call the BBB.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rmr1923

quote:

ORIGINAL: racer212

Guess I'm not quite sure what you're saying.. you say you authorized a credit check but not actually apply fun anything? Odds are pretty good you signed something authorizing tehm to run a credit check for the purposes of obtaining financing. I know with FUNancing they couldnt tell you anything about rates etc without actually getting you approved.

As far as whether you should cancel it or not, it depends your current credit situation. If you're young and without any established credit I'd keep it, and maybe even go buy a helmet or something on it and pay it back off so you can show a payment history on the account. If you already have a lot of established credit lines, I'd probably lose it just to keep you number of accounts down.

I run a motorcycle shop and have a long background in finance. If you wanna talk about it off line pm me.

sorry if my first post confused you.. here's what happened.  he told me about the option to finance half of the purchase, i asked him what the interest rates were.  he had me fill a sheet out with my info and i asked him if i was applying for a credit card and he told me no, but that i had to sign that sheet for him to run a credit check to tell me what sort of interest rates i'd be receiving.  he was very clear that he was only running a credit check and i made him clarify that i wasn't applying for the FUNancing card, but i get a FUNancing card in the mail today.  i'm still fairly young (23) but i've had a credit history for about 5 years now.  when i was in high school and working for my dad, i realized that instead of paying cash for things, i could put them on a credit card and pay them off right away with my cash and build up credit that way.  i currently have two credit cards, one is a Citi card, the other is a Circuit City credit card that i opened up to receive 18 months no interest on a laptop for school.  would it be best for me to just cancel this card, or should i buy something on it and then pay it off?  there's a helmet at this dealership that i'm probably going to buy, so maybe i should put that on the FUNancing card and then cancel it when i pay it off.

 
Its unfortunate, but I'd bet money that whatever the disclaimer was on the bottom of the page it gave the dealer permission to get you financed, and whats in writing is what binding regardless of what you and the saleman discussed.
 
As far as canceling it or not, if you have your credit established and moving, lose the FUN card. Its not a good way to buy anything but bikes, and it sounds like you already have yours.

i use FUNancing for people with busted ass credit. if you filled out a credit app you authorized them to SUBMIT it. read the credit app my friend

"FUNancing" sounds like a load of horseshit!  You better grab your ass cheeks when people are getting clever with the name of their financing...

quote:

ORIGINAL: voodoochyl

"FUNancing" sounds like a load of horseshit!  You better grab your ass cheeks when people are getting clever with the name of their financing...

Ya.  Its probably FUN for no interest for a certain time and then when the interest hits, its around 12%.   LOL

well i guess the "fun" part is the introductory 13.5% apr, and it only goes up after that.  i called up there and they acted like there was some sort of huge mistake and that i shouldn't have gotten the card (i guess they tell you whatever they think you want to hear).  oh well, i just cancelled it and told them i'd already found my bike anyway.
 
and i did read the agreement, and nowhere on that sheet did it state that i was applying for a credit card.  it said, specifically, that i authorize them to run a credit check through a credit reporting agency.  the sheet was only printed on the front, and had no fine print, so i know i didn't miss anything.  i never sign something without reading it over, because i've been screwed before for not reading the fine print.

I would have cancelled and then reported the transaction to the state agency that handles credit fraud or problems. At the very least they will have to make sure people in the future are warned.

sounds like it may have actually been a mistake on the card companies part.

i doubt it was a mistake because ive dealt with this before and when you apply you either get approved ( a card is issued) or denied . then if you do get approved you can use it right then and there to buy gear, a bike, etc

not a mistake. same EXACT thing happened to me. I say we sue. I already contacted an attorney.

i dont understand the big problem . you applied with the intent on getting approved to buy something. they approved you havent charged you for anything , only given you what you wanted. now if they sent you a bill for something you havent bought then sure , sue the hell out of them. ive never ran a credit application through just to see "what if ". but good luck ,don't use the card and if later on you do decide to keep it and use it thank them for getting you approved so quickly  

quote:

ORIGINAL: rmr1923

well i guess the "fun" part is the introductory 13.5% apr, and it only goes up after that.  i called up there and they acted like there was some sort of huge mistake and that i shouldn't have gotten the card (i guess they tell you whatever they think you want to hear).  oh well, i just cancelled it and told them i'd already found my bike anyway.

and i did read the agreement, and nowhere on that sheet did it state that i was applying for a credit card.  it said, specifically, that i authorize them to run a credit check through a credit reporting agency.  the sheet was only printed on the front, and had no fine print, so i know i didn't miss anything.  i never sign something without reading it over, because i've been screwed before for not reading the fine print.

Hahha.   I work with a guy that gets a call out of the blue about a credit card.   He just talks to her and finally ask what the interest is after the one year free interest.  Same thing, 13.5%!!!!!!!!!!!!    Dam, I can get better interest rates and I dont have credit yet.

quote:

ORIGINAL: HAVOC

i dont understand the big problem .

 
well i never intended for this to seem like it's some sort of big deal because it isn't, i was just curious how they could send me a credit card when they told me i wouldn't receive one.  oh well, i just called to make sure there was no balance on the account (which was my biggest concern because the accompanying letter congratulated me on financing my new purchase) and cancelled the card.  case closed... i've moved on with my life (sort of, cause i still wouldn't mind having that red/black 600RR).