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I used to be a customer of Comcast, but left them a long time ago for another ISP. When I started doing business with Comcast, they performed a credit check on me. At that time, I had no issue with it - I figured it was fine, as they wanted to make sure a new customer had the capacity to pay for their service(s). When I terminated my contract with them months later, they performed another check against me. I couldn't understand why a company would perform a check on someone no longer doing business with them, and was somewhat concerned.

When I went in-store and inquired about it personally, the clerk told me they could confirm the first credit check (again, something done with new customers), but the second was unknown to them. (I have a record of their inquiry on my credit report around the time of termination of my contract.)

It has been well over a year since I ended my contract with Comcast, and it never really struck me to ask until now:

Is this normal for a(ny) company to perform a credit check when business is no longer being done between the two parties?

My concern is that the latter check could have had a harmful impact on my report.

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  • At time of cancellation did you try to negotiate a lower price? If they were trying to enroll you in another product as an alternative to cancelling that would probably appear the same as setting up a new account.
    – Hart CO
    May 22, 2017 at 17:56
  • Comcast's credit checks would be a soft-pull and not affect your credit.
    – ceejayoz
    May 22, 2017 at 17:56
  • To Hart - no, at the time of cancellation, I did not attempt to negotiate any changes in pricing or service. I just wanted it to end, period.
    – Fluffy
    May 22, 2017 at 17:58
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    I bet they check again as part of their retention process, they offer you new deals to try to keep you on, but they check credit to see what deals they can offer you. As @ceejayoz mentioned, it's a soft-pull so no big deal.
    – Hart CO
    May 22, 2017 at 18:04
  • Alright - thanks to both of you for alleviating my concern.
    – Fluffy
    May 22, 2017 at 18:09

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In general, it is unusual for a credit check to occur when you are terminating a contract, since you are no longer requesting credit. If the credit check was a "hard pull" it will stay on your credit report for 2 years, but will only have an impact on your credit score for up to 12 months. If the check is a "soft pull" it has no impact on your credit score. Since you're past the 12 months boundary anyway, I wouldn't worry about it.

That being said, please feel free to continue your investigation and report back if you can get Comcast to admit they performed the 2nd credit check. I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear their explanation for it.

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