topic Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls in Credit Card Applications

Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

daveg38 — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 14:46:32 GMT

If you freeze two bureaus, are there any banks that are willing to pull from the one you unfroze? I'm trying to get a major bank (Discover, Citi) to pull Equifax as it is pretty solid right now. BofA won't. For some reason, neither will US Bank.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

ZackAttack — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 17:22:45 GMT

Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Anyway for your question, you CANNOT force a bank to pull a specific bureau. If they find a bureau they are pulling is frozen, they will send you a request to unlock. If you don't want to unlock, then chances are you won't be getting credit from that lender.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 18:55:55 GMT

@daveg38 wrote:
If you freeze two bureaus, are there any banks that are willing to pull from the one you unfroze? I'm trying to get a major bank (Discover, Citi) to pull Equifax as it is pretty solid right now. BofA won't. For some reason, neither will US Bank.

For some reason? They want to see the whole picture and not one you choose to share with them. I think that is a reasonable request as they know baddies etc can be on other report and some reports are clean etc.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

SouthJamaica — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 19:49:44 GMT

@daveg38 wrote:
If you freeze two bureaus, are there any banks that are willing to pull from the one you unfroze? I'm trying to get a major bank (Discover, Citi) to pull Equifax as it is pretty solid right now. BofA won't. For some reason, neither will US Bank.

No.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

ddub965 — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 21:37:40 GMT

YMMV obviously but this has happened to me before. I applied for a CC several years back (it was either BOFA or Chase, sorry I can't remember which) but forgot my reports were all frozen when I applied. I obviously got a rejection letter because of it, so I called the bank and was told I needed to unfreeze Experian to process the app. While still on the phone with the bank I tried unfreezing Experian, but their system was giving me issues and I couldn't unfreeze, so bank rep said to unfreeze Transunion instead and they could try processing with just that one. I unfroze Transunion and they immediately processed/approved (while my Experian and Equifax were still frozen).

Good luck!

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

FireMedic1 — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 11:44:39 GMT

@daveg38 You should have all 3 thawed when applying. If its a well known creditor that pulls 1 of the CRA's. Thats one thing. Though some will get double pulled whe some get a single pull. Or people ask which CRA does this lender pull. You can always ask. Talk about gaming the system isnt allowed on the forums.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

coldfusion — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 11:55:21 GMT

@daveg38 wrote:
If you freeze two bureaus, are there any banks that are willing to pull from the one you unfroze? I'm trying to get a major bank (Discover, Citi) to pull Equifax as it is pretty solid right now. BofA won't. For some reason, neither will US Bank.

Discussion regarding the use of locks or freezes to manipulate which CRA a creditor will pull from when applying for credit is a no-no here.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

UncleB — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 18:46:22 GMT

@ZackAttack wrote:
Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Old management asked us to avoid suggesting this, but new management doesn't seem to mind. Until/unless that changes, I'm not going to be concerned about it.

(Note that we could always discuss it - since it's usually a bad idea - but it was suggesting it that was taboo... a fine-line that frankly I'm good with no longer having to be concerned about.)

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

UncleB — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 18:45:15 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
@daveg38 wrote:
If you freeze two bureaus, are there any banks that are willing to pull from the one you unfroze? I'm trying to get a major bank (Discover, Citi) to pull Equifax as it is pretty solid right now. BofA won't. For some reason, neither will US Bank.
For some reason? They want to see the whole picture and not one you choose to share with them. I think that is a reasonable request as they know baddies etc can be on other report and some reports are clean etc.

For some reason, indeed.

@daveg38, lenders are going to pull the bureau that works for them, and while some will pull an alternate bureau if there's a technical issue (or even a freeze in some cases) it tends to be very hit-or-miss, and that's by design so that folks don't game the system.

Fun fact, some people on this forum have frozen a bureau before asking for a CLI to prevent a HP, only for the lender to pull an alternate bureau even though they're not usually known for doing so.

There are always exceptions even for lenders who usually pull a certain bureau, Synchrony is an example of this. They usually pull TU, but on occasion they'll pull EX (and I think even EQ) for seemingly no rhyme or reason.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 20:53:38 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
@ZackAttack wrote:
Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Old management asked us to avoid suggesting this, but new management doesn't seem to mind. Until/unless that changes, I'm not going to be concerned about it.

(Note that we could always discuss it - since it's usually a bad idea - but it was suggesting it that was taboo... a fine-line that frankly I'm good with no longer having to be concerned about.)

Just to make sure I don't cross the line, are you saying that we can discuss selective credit freezes and not be in violation of the TOS?

When I originally heard of the policy, I couldn't figure out what FICO would care, but then upon further consideraiton, I realized that the FICO company earns money every time there's a credit pull that generates a FICO score, so freezing one or more bureaus prevents FICO from generating revenue. Why host a consumer forum that cuts into your revenue? That makes no sense.

People here sometimes talk about "gaming the system," but frankly almost everything we have learned over the last decade could be considered "gaming the system": The SSL technique, AZEO ....so many things people have learned by being guinea pigs.

Just my thoughts and concern.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

UncleB — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 06:57:06 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@ZackAttack wrote:
Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Old management asked us to avoid suggesting this, but new management doesn't seem to mind. Until/unless that changes, I'm not going to be concerned about it.

(Note that we could always discuss it - since it's usually a bad idea - but it was suggesting it that was taboo... a fine-line that frankly I'm good with no longer having to be concerned about.)
Just to make sure I don't cross the line, are you saying that we can discuss selective credit freezes and not be in violation of the TOS?

When I originally heard of the policy, I couldn't figure out what FICO would care, but then upon further consideraiton, I realized that the FICO company earns money every time there's a credit pull that generates a FICO score, so freezing one or more bureaus prevents FICO from generating revenue. Why host a consumer forum that cuts into your revenue? That makes no sense.

People here sometimes talk about "gaming the system," but frankly almost everything we have learned over the last decade could be considered "gaming the system": The SSL technique, AZEO ....so many things people have learned by being guinea pigs.

Just my thoughts and concern.

We're already way off-topic, but in the interest of clearing the air I'll reply here rather than move this to another thread.

I'm not saying advocating selective freezes on myFICO is fine or not - I'm no longer in an elevated position here - I'm just saying that new management hasn't shown concern. The new moderators do not participate in the discussions on this community; they respond to reports of problems and if there's a TOS issue they deal with it. Nothing more, nothing less. That said, the last update to the Terms of Service was just last month, and advocating selective freezes still isn't mentioned. Make of that what you will.

That said, there's a provision in the TOS that states, "...we may edit or remove any posting we consider, in our sole discretion, to violate the Terms or be inappropriate for myFICO Forums for any reason" so if they ever do decide to disallow this type of chatter they can.

Basically, I'm no longer looking for these cases but that's not saying the admin might decide once again that it's not allowed here. If anyone has any additional concerns they can reach out to one of the moderators or the forum admin.

Hopefully now we can get back to the topic of this thread, which is convincing our OP that his plan to selectively freeze credit bureaus before applying for new credit will likely not end well.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 07:31:45 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@ZackAttack wrote:
Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Old management asked us to avoid suggesting this, but new management doesn't seem to mind. Until/unless that changes, I'm not going to be concerned about it.

(Note that we could always discuss it - since it's usually a bad idea - but it was suggesting it that was taboo... a fine-line that frankly I'm good with no longer having to be concerned about.)
Just to make sure I don't cross the line, are you saying that we can discuss selective credit freezes and not be in violation of the TOS?

When I originally heard of the policy, I couldn't figure out what FICO would care, but then upon further consideraiton, I realized that the FICO company earns money every time there's a credit pull that generates a FICO score, so freezing one or more bureaus prevents FICO from generating revenue. Why host a consumer forum that cuts into your revenue? That makes no sense.

People here sometimes talk about "gaming the system," but frankly almost everything we have learned over the last decade could be considered "gaming the system": The SSL technique, AZEO ....so many things people have learned by being guinea pigs.

Just my thoughts and concern.

There were threads on here years ago where BofA would let you choose the bureau for an HP if you happened to be frozen at the time of an app. If all three of your reports were on ice, you would obviously get rejected, but you could call in and ask them which report that want thawed. If you didn't want to thaw that report, you could just say, "Never mind, I don't want to unfreeze that report," and that would be the end of it.

It is not correct where people on here have come down hard on OP for asking the question. It is not a stupid question. It may not be allowed on here, and that's fair, but lenders have in the past allowed you to choose the report you thaw.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 10:50:58 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@ZackAttack wrote:
Hi,

Ask the question about suggesting to have a freeze in place maybe against the myfico TOS (maybe???).

Old management asked us to avoid suggesting this, but new management doesn't seem to mind. Until/unless that changes, I'm not going to be concerned about it.

(Note that we could always discuss it - since it's usually a bad idea - but it was suggesting it that was taboo... a fine-line that frankly I'm good with no longer having to be concerned about.)
Just to make sure I don't cross the line, are you saying that we can discuss selective credit freezes and not be in violation of the TOS?

When I originally heard of the policy, I couldn't figure out what FICO would care, but then upon further consideraiton, I realized that the FICO company earns money every time there's a credit pull that generates a FICO score, so freezing one or more bureaus prevents FICO from generating revenue. Why host a consumer forum that cuts into your revenue? That makes no sense.

People here sometimes talk about "gaming the system," but frankly almost everything we have learned over the last decade could be considered "gaming the system": The SSL technique, AZEO ....so many things people have learned by being guinea pigs.

Just my thoughts and concern.

There were threads on here years ago where BofA would let you choose the bureau for an HP if you happened to be frozen at the time of an app. If all three of your reports were on ice, you would obviously get rejected, but you could call in and ask them which report that want thawed. If you didn't want to thaw that report, you could just say, "Never mind, I don't want to unfreeze that report," and that would be the end of it.

It is not correct where people on here have come down hard on OP for asking the question. It is not a stupid question. It may not be allowed on here, and that's fair, but lenders have in the past allowed you to choose the report you thaw.

My purpose wasn't to be hard on OP. One thing I have personally learned in life is to be honest and the more direct you are with someone whether work in managing someone or friends is to be direct with them even if it isn't what they want to hear. I just stated the facts of why lenders pull whim they choose and some will not budge on their policies as they know people in cases freeze certain CRA's whether it is a baddie of some sort or trying to hide something or whatever it might be. I think it is just many people have seem the same question 1000's of times and can be found with a quick search. UB cleared up some w/regards to the talk that I have avoided and hopefully he has cleared some of the things up how the MF admin/legal feels about things currently.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

daveg38 — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 22:14:50 GMT

Look, maybe I worded it wrong. I'm reading the comments, and rereading my original post. My goal is not to "game" the forum or FICO.

I'm seeing posts from people who freeze bureaus and then the creditor selects a new bureau. I'm also seeing people in my state who get pulled from a bureau, then I apply and they select a different one.

I'm just wondering if there are specific credit card companies who will pull a bureau if you ask them to.

Re: Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 23:17:25 GMT

@daveg38 wrote:
Look, maybe I worded it wrong. I'm reading the comments, and rereading my original post. My goal is not to "game" the forum or FICO.

I'm seeing posts from people who freeze bureaus and then the creditor selects a new bureau. I'm also seeing people in my state who get pulled from a bureau, then I apply and they select a different one.

I'm just wondering if there are specific credit card companies who will pull a bureau if you ask them to.

Not that I am aware of. Places like Barclay's are known to pull TU, but have been known to pull Experian, PenFed will pull EQ I believe for CC's and other CU's are known to pull X bureaus typically. There is a post in the general credit forum titled "whom creditors pull" or something along those lines and you get an idea based on you geo location whom they pull. To you question though creditors will not pull if you ask them to pull a certain bureau unless that happens to be the only thing they pull.