Northstar Alarm WARNING!! Beware they can pull your credit report with out your authorization Orem UT Utah

Stevem,

You're right about salespeople checking your credit without your permission or knowledge. I used to work for Northstar Alarm Services as a salesperson.

When we were trying to sell an alarm system to somebody, we would say something like, We can only sell these alarm systems to homeowners, so we just have to verify that you actually are the homeowner," and we make a phone call on our cell phones to the Northstar Alarm Services headquarters in Utah. Then people at the headquarters ran a credit check on the potential customer, using only their name, address and phone number, I think.

If the potential customer's credit was good enough, then we continued trying to sell the alarm system, but if the customer's credit wasn't good enough, we came up with some excuse (usually a lie) for getting out of there and moving on to the next house.

Here's another sneaky and dishonest thing we would do. (At least this is what we did when I worked for them in the summer of 2007.) When we were checking a potential customer's credit by calling the headquarters, we had a code worked out. We said on the cell phone conversation, which happened in front of the potential customer, Hi, this is so-and-so. I just have to verify home ownership for so-and-so who lives at such and such address. But the person on the other end of the line knew that verify homeownership really meant check their credit. Pretty sneaky, huh?

The person thinks that we're checking to see if they are the homeowner, but really we're checking their credit. I doubt home security system salespeople would get as many sales if they honestly said, "Before we can make this transaction, I need to check your credit."

I put a long entry about Northstar Alarm Services on my personal blog, Telemoonfa Time, here: http://telemoonfa.blogspot.com/2008/03/northstar-alarm-services.html

Hi Stevem,

I'm very sorry that your credit was run without your knowledge or permission. This is definitely not something we condone and are disappointed that one of our salespeople would check a potential customer's credit without permission. We do, however, check our customers' credit when entering into an agreement with Northstar Alarm. There is a minimum credit requirement that must be met in order to qualify for special rates and offers. Let us know if you have any questions about our company or security systems.

Cari
Northstar Alarm

How curious is this that a "security" company treats your information so lightly. The kid probably pulled your credit report so he knows if it is worth going back to your house or not. They only make their money if it is someone has sufficient credit (600-625+) to be able to fulfill their contracts. However, if they are that relaxed with your credit/identity, how would they be with your alarm/security? There is a lot of personal information being passed around when you sign up for a security system, you'd think they'd handle it better.

Keep us posted on what happens!

How curious is this that a "security" company treats your information so lightly. The kid probably pulled your credit report so he knows if it is worth going back to your house or not. They only make their money if it is someone has sufficient credit (600-625+) to be able to fulfill their contracts. However, if they are that relaxed with your credit/identity, how would they be with your alarm/security? There is a lot of personal information being passed around when you sign up for a security system, you'd think they'd handle it better.

Keep us posted on what happens!

How curious is this that a "security" company treats your information so lightly. The kid probably pulled your credit report so he knows if it is worth going back to your house or not. They only make their money if it is someone has sufficient credit (600-625+) to be able to fulfill their contracts. However, if they are that relaxed with your credit/identity, how would they be with your alarm/security? There is a lot of personal information being passed around when you sign up for a security system, you'd think they'd handle it better.

Keep us posted on what happens!

How curious is this that a "security" company treats your information so lightly. The kid probably pulled your credit report so he knows if it is worth going back to your house or not. They only make their money if it is someone has sufficient credit (600-625+) to be able to fulfill their contracts. However, if they are that relaxed with your credit/identity, how would they be with your alarm/security? There is a lot of personal information being passed around when you sign up for a security system, you'd think they'd handle it better.

Keep us posted on what happens!