Keep my Experian frozen?

[kimdavid86]

In last 6 month, I had 6 HP inquiries from my Experian. I needed to apply for my Chase SW business premier CC ( to try to receive Companion Pass starting next year) but did not want another HP from my Experian. I did some research and read a artitcle or a blog about freezing your account and calling recon line to ask them to pull different Credit Report. So I froze my Experian for about $13 with pin (Pin is created for you to give to creditors when they want to pull a report from frozen Experian). Below is the link to article I read.

http://boardingarea.com/rapidtravelchai/2012/12/13/freezing-your-credit-report-to-manage-credit-inqu...

Well....It did not work. Chase told me they only use Experian and I would have no choice. So I had to give them my pin for them to pull the report. I was approved for the credit card. Now my question is do I leave it frozen? Now I have 7 HP from my Experian and my Experian credit score is about 30-40 lower then my other two.

I am not too familier with the term Gardening but I think that is what I want to do with my Credit. I am not going to apply for any more credit cards. So my questions is, do I leave the EXPERIAN frozen to Garden it? or do I take off the freeze? 

Thanks in advance!

[SunriseEarth]

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@kimdavid86 wrote:

In last 6 month, I had 6 HP inquiries from my Experian. I needed to apply for my Chase SW business premier CC ( to try to receive Companion Pass starting next year) but did not want another HP from my Experian. I did some research and read a artitcle or a blog about freezing your account and calling recon line to ask them to pull different Credit Report. So I froze my Experian for about $13 with pin (Pin is created for you to give to creditors when they want to pull a report from frozen Experian). Below is the link to article I read.

http://boardingarea.com/rapidtravelchai/2012/12/13/freezing-your-credit-report-to-manage-credit-inqu...

Well....It did not work. Chase told me they only use Experian and I would have no choice. So I had to give them my pin for them to pull the report. I was approved for the credit card. Now my question is do I leave it frozen? Now I have 7 HP from my Experian and my Experian credit score is about 30-40 lower then my other two.

I am not too familier with the term Gardening but I think that is what I want to do with my Credit. I am not going to apply for any more credit cards. So my questions is, do I leave the EXPERIAN frozen to Garden it? or do I take off the freeze? 

Thanks in advance!

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I read the article and someone mentioned Chase only wanting EX in the comments section.  Even the article itself mentioned that it only worked for some creditors.  I think it would have been to come here and search which lenders pull which reports in which locations and adjusted accordingly.  But what's done is done.  You got your TL (congrats) and your scores will come back if you decide to garden.  

As for gardening, it basically means that you won't open any new TLs or obtain any HPs on your credit reports for an amount of time that you've determined.  The HPs will stay on your CRs for two years.  The effect is largely diminished on your FICO score after 6 months and gone in a year.  So most people tend to garden for at least 6 months.  One year would be good, as the new TL won't be considered "new" after the year mark.

[bichonmom]

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@kimdavid86 wrote:

In last 6 month, I had 6 HP inquiries from my Experian. I needed to apply for my Chase SW business premier CC ( to try to receive Companion Pass starting next year) but did not want another HP from my Experian. I did some research and read a artitcle or a blog about freezing your account and calling recon line to ask them to pull different Credit Report. So I froze my Experian for about $13 with pin (Pin is created for you to give to creditors when they want to pull a report from frozen Experian). Below is the link to article I read.

http://boardingarea.com/rapidtravelchai/2012/12/13/freezing-your-credit-report-to-manage-credit-inqu...

Well....It did not work. Chase told me they only use Experian and I would have no choice. So I had to give them my pin for them to pull the report. I was approved for the credit card. Now my question is do I leave it frozen? Now I have 7 HP from my Experian and my Experian credit score is about 30-40 lower then my other two.

I am not too familier with the term Gardening but I think that is what I want to do with my Credit. I am not going to apply for any more credit cards. So my questions is, do I leave the EXPERIAN frozen to Garden it? or do I take off the freeze? 

Thanks in advance!

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Chase has pulled EQ for me both times. They told me that they use all 3 CRAs and it just depends which one comes up when you apply. On the forum, we have noticed it is often based on where you live. Some people have tried to control which CR is pulled by only unfreezing their best report, but that doesn't always work, as you found out.

Some people keep their CRs frozen to help keep their desire to app for new credit at bay. It can prevent unwanted HPs, like if you ask for a CLI and they try to do a HP. But then you wouldn't get the CLI unless you lift it.

There have been discussions here about freezing your CR to prevent CAs from doing HPs, but I can tell you from personal experience that it doesn't stop CAs from doing that - unfortunately. It is an added expense and step you need to take every time you apply for credit.

Personally, it does give me some peace of mind, especially with identity theft so rampant. You need to decide for yourself if it's worth it. But if your only motivation is to try and control which CR creditors pull for apps, it isn't likely to work.

[coldnmn]

If I were a creditor I would wnt to pull EX even more figuring you had something to hide. YMMV Congratulations on your new TL!

[parakleet]

It's my understanding that freezing CRs for the purpose of manipulating the a creditor to pull a particular CR is frowned upon here as unethical behavior.

[HeilFico]

I was in the very same situation earlier this year with Chase. This is definitely a YMMV situation. They either stopped granting such requests or limited them tremendously. 

[09Lexie]

@parakleet is correct, attempting to divert a lender to pull a more favorable cr is considered unethical behavior at myFICO. Freezing CR's should be for a method to deter identity theft and/or 'force' a user into gardening.

Edit: typo

[enharu]

Freezing specific bureau(s) often do not work out as planned.

For instance, some lenders, such as chase, MUST pull from that bureau that they originally tried to pull from and noticed it was frozen. This is for fraud prevention purposes. They want to make sure its really you who is applying for the cards, not some random thief who's trying to exploit whatever they can get their hands on.

Another possible undesirable effect is that it can sometimes makes the lender suspicious about what you are exactly trying to hide or pull off. During a manual review, they can become a lot more stringent which may not pan out well for certain individuals, especially those with derogs or something not ideal in their reports.

And in the worst case scenario, they may want to pull other bureaus on top of what they were originally trying to pull, mostly for fraud prevention and verification purposes. Nevertheless, you will end up having more inquiries than you were supposed to.

[SunriseEarth]

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@09Lexie wrote:
@parakleet is correct, attempting to divert a lender to pull a more favorable cr is considered unethical behavior at myFICO. Freezing CR's should be for a method to deter identity theft and go 'force' a user into gardening.

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+1.  If some reports are more favorable, it's preferable to search to determine which CRA a particular lender is more likely to use.  But even with that, YMMV.