Liberty Toyota Will run your credit without permission Colorado Springs, Colorado

I am glad you were able to get things worked out with the mortgage lender for your refinance. But, are you saying the dealership ran your credit even though you paid cash for the car and they knew they were not issuing you credit?

Did you by chance pay via personal check? The reason I ask is because they are allowed to run your credit only if you have given prior permission and if you provide a personal check to initiate a business transaction.  I totally disagree that the dealership should be able to check your credit when presented by a personal check, but naturally my opinion doesn't matter. The reasoning seems to be, according to the FTC, to see if you are credit worthy and the issuance of a personal check means they are extending credit to you presumably for the duration of the time for the check to clear.

The FTC has a letter here that says if you give them a personal check you give them permission to access your credit because you are initiating a business transaction. Here is the FTC link with more detail http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/coffey.shtm

I have also discovered that these dealerships can access your credit report with just your drivers license info and not your social security info. Scary! Check out the article in Consumer Reports (2009) titled: Car dealers can use your drivers license to access your credit report

Note to Jim.  I paid cash for the car so I guess putting off my desires has not bearing here.  You didn't have all the facts Jim.  That said, I did speak with the GM of Liberty Toyota a Larry Miller dealership.  I actually purchased the car for cash from Colorado Springs Toyota a Larry Miller dealership.  Both dealerships share the same credit credit reporting service.  Because it was a large cash transaction, they are required to identify the individual under OFAC to prevent money laundering.  They subscribe to a service that runs credit and checks the OFAC records in a single step (for the dealer).  They do have alternative ways to checking OFAC records without having to trigger a report.  The dealership sent me a letter of explanation that I forwarded to the mortgage underwriter which cleared up the matter.  He also said they will offer the OFAC only option to cash purchasers in the future.

The effects of having one credit report look-up are little to none.  The mortgage company was concerned if you were ALSO considering the purchase and finance of a car which would change your debt to income ratio.  They were looking ahead to guage your ability to repay their mortgage loan. 

Why were you looking to do a refi AND buy a car at reasonably the same time?  I can understand the desire for a new car but what you should have done is put that desire aside until the refi is complete.  The car dealer is not to blame here.  Most everyone who expresses an interest in buying or talking price on a car is subject to a credit look-up.