Las Vegas - Have a casino line of credit? Close it if you're not using it!

I had a casino line of credit at the Venetian that was opened for me by a helpful host in 2000. I think I used it exactly one time, in 2001, when I was in a hurry to get to the airport and forgot my bankroll. I stopped staying at the V in 2003 after losing that very good host (he moved on to a different line of work) and because I felt they were getting too tight on their games.

On the advice of a forum regular here (and coupled with a very decent mailed offer), I decided to make up with the V and made a rez for a stay in late October.

Here's the rub: Someone in the casino credit office decided to update my credit file. They pulled my credit (a "hard pull" on experian) and left me a message wanting updated banking information.

I just got off the phone with them, pretty upset. Asked them why on earth did they feel the need to pull my credit file on a line that I hadn't used in 7 years, for a line that I no plan to use on my upcoming trip. ESPECIALLY without contacting me first. ESPECIALLY in this nutty credit market! :mad::mad:

They were pretty apologetic and are looking into getting it reversed. I'm not confident and will likely have to live with a unwanted inquiry for the next 2 years.

Moral of the story is that if you have a line, are not using it, and don't want to use it: instruct the casino to close it! :mad:

I had a casino line of credit at the Venetian that was opened for me by a helpful host in 2000. I think I used it exactly one time, in 2001, when I was in a hurry to get to the airport and forgot my bankroll. I stopped staying at the V in 2003 after losing that very good host (he moved on to a different line of work) and because I felt they were getting too tight on their games.

One the advice of a forum regular here (and coupled with a very decent mailed offer), I decided to make up with the V and made a rez for a stay in late October.

Here the rub: Someone in the casino credit office decided to update my credit file. They pulled my credit (experian) and left me a message wanting updated banking information.

I just got off the phone with them, pretty upset. Asked them why on earth did they feel the need to pull my credit file on a line that I hadn't used in 7 years, for a line that I no plan to use on my upcoming trip. ESPECIALLY without contacting me first. ESPECIALLY in this nutty credit market! :mad::mad:

They were pretty apologetic and are looking into getting it reversed. I'm not confident and will likely have to live with a unwanted inquiry for the next 2 years.

Moral of the story is that if you have a line, are not using it, and don't want to use it: instruct the casino to close it! :mad:

If you are concerned about an inquiry being on your report, I don't think it counts against your credit rating in this case. Any existing company with thich you have a credit line can check your credit at anytime to confirm stability in your credit picture. This does not count as an inquiry that you would see if you were opening new credit.

Unless your credit is incredibly poor, or you're doing goofy things like opening and closing accounts or transferring significant sums between cards or having a slew of credit inquiries, the casino's actions won't hurt you a bit. And closing accounts could actually have worse implications than just leaving them alone or having them updated.

The pull, by "Central Credit of Las Vegas" counts as an inquiry ("seeking credit"). While not devastating, inquires typically knock 2-5 points off your FICO score. Mine is high enough, but if my score were say, 700, that would have been enough to knock it down to 697, which in this market could trigger an adverse action by other creditors.

It is true that any creditor you have a relationship with can pull, "hard pulls" which are the most detailed (and expensive) typically do not happen unless you are truly seeking more credit (like an increase in your line). "Soft pulls" (which sometimes happen monthly) only report your overall debt and other information. Soft pulls are invisible to other creditors and have no impact on your score.

Casinos do not report the the CRAs as a creditor, so there is no tradeline like a Visa or Mastercard (you're supposed to pay off the markers at the end of you trip, no later than 30 days after you return home). Closing the line will not have a negative impact on your report.

In any event, they shouldn't have done it without asking.

I also have a minor beef with the Venetian. Apparently anybody who knows your date of birth and zip code can have your promotional email redirected to an email address of their choosing just by visiting the Venetian web site.

My ex did this.

I have not had a response to my letter asking them to correct the problem.

Where do you see these "hard pulls" documented? I've never seen an entry from a casino on any of my credit reports and I have credit lines all over the place.

QL

I've got credit monitoring with Transunion ( http://www.truecredit.com ). Its documented in the "inquires" section. Casinos do not report as a "Tradeline".

Central Credit is the service most casinos use.

They pulled my consumer Experian report, I guess to make sure I'm not a deadbeat.


Creditor Name Date of Inquiry Credit Bureau
CENTRAL CREDIT LLC 09/26/2008 Experian


Central Credit Database is Designed to Help Casinos Improve Credit-Making Decisions (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_/ai_n27407266)

Whether or not it impacts your credit, I agree that they should've at least given you a courtesy call to say that they were planning on pulling a credit report "for your convenience" in case you were going to use your LOC on your upcoming trip.
Then you would've been able to tell them not to, and that you weren't going to use the LOC at all. Everyone would've been happy and this whole situation could've been avoided. Plus, there's hardly any downside to them calling you and getting you excited about your trip :)

I did notice something on one of my credit reports -- can't remember (and didn't care) if it was a "hard" or "soft" pull (my credit scores are over 800, so it doesn't matter). For the Venetian, I've actually been on a conference call with them and Citibank to confirm what the balance of my account was.

Its clear that the casino's biggest concern is that you have enough cash on hand to cover your markers at the time of your trip.

I don't fault them for pulling someone's credit, if someone had a bunch of derogatory information on their report, I wouldn't want to extend them $25K in markers.

Just ask if its OK first. Please.