We wrote about the potential downside of applying for the new AT&T Access More card since it requires signing up for service with AT&T. While you only need to remain a customer for 15 days, this would still seemingly result in a hard inquiry on your credit when processing your AT&T service agreement.
We still  haven’t heard back from AT&T, but we did manage to clarify a few things.
Hard Inquiry
With regard to whether one receives a hard inquiry when signing a service agreement with AT&T, the consensus definitely seems to be that generally a hard inquiry is done on your credit report. This is based on the comments to our original post and on what we’ve seen elsewhere.
Equifax is the credit bureau that’s mentioned often and that’s a good thing since Equifax is the least used report for many. (Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more people say that their Transunion is used more than the Equifax.)
One comment, in particular, addressed our scenario of signing up for a service agreement without any contract at all. Reader Ivan reported that he brought his own phone when signing up for service and it still resulted in a hard inquiry.
We also got a comment from reader Estelle who works for AT&T and confirmed that a hard inquiry is done. I followed up with Estelle via email and he confirmed that even when you bring your own phone there is an inquiry done. And that there’s no difference whether the sign up with AT&T is done in-store or online.
Bonus for Existing Customers
A few readers wondered how exactly the $650 signup bonus will play out for existing AT&T customers. Since they’re already customers, would they need to do any additional agreement with AT&T in order to get the signup bonus? Or would they not be eligible for the bonus at all?
Via my contact at Citi I was able to confirm that current AT&T customers will be eligible for the bonus without any additional agreements necessary. (They would, however, need to remain an AT&T customer for 15 days.)
Here’s the exact quote:
Yes, existing AT&T customers would be eligible for the new phone benefit immediately after becoming a AT&T Access More cardmember. They could purchase a phone right away, and would receive a statement credit (up to $650 excluding taxes, fees and service) after they meet the $2,000 spend in first 3 months requirement. Note that the phone purchase is counted as part of the $2,000 spend.
This is great news for AT&T customers since they could get the $650 toward a phone without any additional requirements aside from the $2000 in spend. Or actually ~$1350 in spend, as the $650 counts toward the minimum spend. And they won’t have to worry about a second hard pull done on their credit.
Conclusion
Just to recap in brief:
- There will probably be a hard inquiry (likely Equifax) done for new AT&T customers.
- Existing AT&T customer can buy the new phone immediately with no additional requirements besides for the minimum spend.
