Running your first TransUnion soft pull in AVA® Portal

A TransUnion full bureau soft pull gives you a customer’s complete credit file with no impact to their credit score. No application, no hard inquiry, and no waiting on a lender to respond. Once you have the customer’s consent it takes a few clicks, and the file comes back in seconds.

There are two ways to run one, and which you use comes down to whether the customer already exists in AVA® Portal.

Where you are	Use this	What you get
The customer is already a lead in AVA® Portal	AVA® Portal	The full TransUnion bureau, on screen, in the lead record
The customer is not in AVA® Portal yet, and you are working in your CRM, a marketplace listing, or any other browser tab	AVA® Co-Driver	A credit snapshot in the extension, with one click through to the full bureau in AVA® Portal

BEFORE YOU START: CONSENT IS REQUIRED

You must obtain the customer’s verbal consent before you run a soft pull. Every time, without exception.

AVA® will ask you to confirm three things before the pull runs:

• You have obtained verbal consent from the customer

• The customer is aware of and has consented to this inquiry

• The customer information you have entered is accurate

These are not formalities. Confirming them without having actually spoken to the customer is a compliance breach, and it puts both your dealership and your access to the bureau at risk.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

For a lead already in AVA® Portal, most of this is already on file and fills in for you. Check it rather than retype it.

• Full name

• Email address

• Phone number

• Date of birth

• Street address

USE CASE 1 · AVA® PORTAL

Use this when the customer already exists as a lead in AVA® Portal.

1. Open the lead

From your leads list, click the customer you want to pull.

The lead detail page organises everything about that customer in one place. Completed products appear in the sidebar as your team runs them, alongside quick access to Insights, Activities, Notes, Conversations, and AVA® MatchBook if your store has it enabled.

2. Click Run Soft Pull

You will find the button in two places, and either one works:

• The lead Overview page

• The Credit page

3. Check the contact information

Because the lead already exists, everything the soft pull needs is filled in for you.

Read it rather than skim it. An incorrect date of birth or a stale address is the most common reason a pull comes back with no match.

Make any corrections you need, then click Update Lead.

4. Click Continue

This takes you to the consent step.

5. Complete the customer consent

Check the three boxes to confirm you have verbal consent, that the customer is aware of and has consented to the inquiry, and that the information you have entered is accurate.

If you have not actually spoken to the customer yet, stop here. Go get consent first.

6. Run the soft pull

The full TransUnion bureau appears immediately, with no impact to the customer’s credit score.

7. Read the file

Everything TransUnion holds on that customer is on the Credit page:

• Account summary, risks, accounts, banking information, employment information, phone numbers, mortgages, registered items, bankruptcy information, legal items, collections, remarks, trade lines, and credit inquiries.

THAT IS IT

From opening the lead to reading the file is under a minute once your team has done it twice.

USE CASE 2 · AVA® CO-DRIVER

Use this when the customer is not in AVA® Portal yet, and you are working somewhere else in your browser. Your CRM, a marketplace listing, a lead that just landed in your inbox.

AVA® Co-Driver is our intelligent browser extension. It is available for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and it means you never have to stop what you are doing and log into a separate tab to pull credit.

→ Add AVA® Co-Driver to Chrome

→ Add AVA® Co-Driver to Microsoft Edge [EDGE_INSTALL]

1. Open AVA® Co-Driver

Stay where you are. You do not need to leave your CRM or open a new tab.

2. Start the pull from the leads list

Find the customer in the Co-Driver leads list and click the TransUnion logo beside them.

3. Enter the customer’s details

Because this customer is not in AVA® Portal yet, there is nothing to auto fill. Enter:

• Full name

• Email address

• Phone number

• Date of birth

• Street address

4. Complete the customer consent

Same three confirmations as the Portal. Verbal consent obtained, customer aware and consenting, information accurate.

5. Run the soft pull

The TransUnion credit snapshot appears in Co-Driver straight away, without you leaving the page you are on.

6. Open the full profile when you need the whole file

The snapshot is built for the moment you are in. It tells you what you need to know while the customer is still on the phone.

When you want the complete bureau, click Full Profile at the bottom of the snapshot. AVA® Portal opens on that customer’s Credit page with the entire file, exactly as it appears in Use Case 1.

WORTH KNOWING

Co-Driver and the Portal are not two separate systems. A pull you run in Co-Driver creates the lead and the credit file in AVA® Portal, so nothing lives in a silo and nothing needs re-entering.

Common questions

Does this affect my customer’s credit score?

No. It is a soft pull. Nothing lands on their file and no points come off their score.

Do I need a signed credit application?

No. Verbal consent from the customer is the requirement, and you confirm you have it at the consent step.

How is this different from the soft pull I already run?

Same mechanism, far more depth. You get the customer’s complete TransUnion bureau rather than a summary view, which is what lets you structure a deal instead of just qualifying a lead.

How long does it take?

Seconds. The file returns while you are still in the conversation.

The pull came back with no match. What now?

Almost always the date of birth or the street address. Go back, confirm both with the customer, and run it again.

Can I run this on a customer who has not walked in yet?

Yes, and that is the point. As long as you have their verbal consent, you can run the full bureau on a fresh internet lead before anyone has picked a vehicle.

Who at my store can run a soft pull?

Anyone you give access to. Permissions are set per user in AVA® Portal, so you control who can run pulls and what they can see on a file.

NEED A HAND?

Book a one on one training session with Elie Tabri, our Director of Credit. He will walk your team through both use cases live, as many sessions as you need.

→ Book your one on one training with Elie