topic Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen? in Credit Cards

Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

j615 — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 07:51:45 GMT

Will Amex’s free FICO continue to update monthly if reports are on ice?

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:32:34 GMT

Yes, mine do

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:15:15 GMT

Yes any creditor that you currently have an account with can SP your credit to their hearts content. Thus any creditor you have a card/loan with will be able to see any of your CRA's and get any information off of them they please which also includes FICO if they so choose.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

j615 — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:27:19 GMT

Thanks. Ever since I froze my reports since the Equifax situation, Amex shows that it updates each month, but my score has been static which made me wonder. Good to know it’ll still update. I guess my score just really hasn’t changed recently.

Same with WF and Citi. Scores have not moved. But don’t really care with these as they’re not FICO 8.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:30:52 GMT

I no longer see my Citi score as Eq is froze but is Pita to unfreeze and is the bane of my existance Cant view my Fico 9 from Navy either. Penfed doesnt e en want to post my Fico9 , so to Equihack i say, go uber your inner Barclays

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:34:57 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I no longer see my Citi score as Eq is froze but is Pita to unfreeze and is the bane of my existance Cant view my Fico 9 from Navy either. Penfed doesnt e en want to post my Fico9 , so to Equihack i say, go uber your inner Barclays

Strange you are having issues with PenFed/Navy/Citi as they are all EQ.. My scores posts just fine and have a perma freeze on EQ whether I want one or not (my files is all hosed with EQ and they can't seem to get it right after months of complaints by CFPB, hours of calls, etc..). Look them up incompetence or many other words close to the same meaning in the dictionary and you will see a link to Equifax.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

j615 — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:41:25 GMT

What are the odds... Amex just updated this morning. It went up 1 pt!

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 18:10:16 GMT

Yeah, CC, anytime i call equifax, holy bejollees, the people they have answering seem to speak anything but English and if you ask anything credit related, its like talking to a 3 year old. The last guy i talked to couldnt even read whatever script he was reading from. The only hing i mught do is to try to unfreeze it bt mail, but my luck is theyll send me a letter saying one of he forms of id was invalid. In a way i regret freezing it but in the end if i cant use it, no one else can either

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 19:14:30 GMT

All 3 of mine are frozen and my scores update without problem on all card issuers fico score pages. The only problem I've encountered is myFICO being unable to pull a full report from EX since freezing so I just unfreeze each month.

Like AJC I'm not looking forward to when I need to unfreeze EQ. Made me mail in proof of **bleep** near everything to freeze in the first place and I'm not entirely sure they ever sent me a pin....

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 02:51:13 GMT

Please stay with this lengthy post because at the end, I'm going to share some Amex wisdom with all that may be helpful. Amex has not updated my score in almost two months. Here is why I am concerned.

I was intially approved by AMEX (everyday cash blue) with an OCL of 1800 about a year ago- one year post Chapter 13 discharge. Although I have kept my credit immaculate since the BK, all three of my fico scores seemed to hit a plateau at around 670-680. Of course, I was denied the obligatory 3x CLI and have since been denied a second time, stating bankruptcy. Once I got past the simple logic of 'why did you approve me in the first place?' I knew there was nothing left to do, but wait for the BK to fall off.

As you can guess, it has fallen off (yeah!!!!!), and my credit scores reflected this by jumping north of 740ish and climbing seemingly every week. Sooooooo...I jump on to the amex site and hit the love button...bzzzz denied!!!! Keep in mind at this time (2 weeks ago) I didn't know Amex was providing free fico 8 scores via their website. So I phone in and ask why I was denied. Of course, I'm told you have a bk on your report. After I wasted my breath continually with the rep and his supervisor, I realized something (and later confirmed with AMEX) that should be very important to ALL of us...

Amex does not soft pull. There is absolutely no process or mechanism where they 'soft' pull your credit by reaching out to Experian, essentially updating your information. I know some of the credit experts here get it, but I certainly did not. There are dozens of posts on this forum that run anywhere from vague to total misinformation. Members continually post to the effect of, 'amex soft pulling your credit from the bureau (Exp) updates your current score so they have the latest information without doing a hard pull.

Now, while it true obviously true, amex does not hard pull their exsisting customers, I think it is important to understand the true nature of the process so that we (I) can ask the right question. The information I have been given over the last two weeks from three separate supervisors is, 'amex does not pull or soft pull information from experian. They wait for information from the bureau which is automatically uploaded in the system ONCE A MONTH'.

So the question for me is, why isn't AMEX updating my credit information? I have spoken to experian and they claim they have always provided the information to Amex and the last couple of months are no exception. Experian has updated my information and bk free credit report and score to Discover. I feel like Amex is refusing to update my score, though I have been reassured they couldn't play that game if they wanted to. Systemically, it's not possible.

I've also been assured with a 750 experian fico 8 score and zero deragtory info whatsoever on my report, I likely would get a CLI, but as of today I continue to wait. In the meantime I'm very blessed with my income, I've learned from my past mistakes and misfortune and my guess is with all the prequal letters, somebody is out there that is willing to give me a credit line that fits my travel needs and family lifestyle. Lots to be thankful for so I'll keep plugging away.

I have posted a lot, but I have been lurking and learning with the best of them. I probably should take more time to share my experiences with others maybe in a similar situation. I'm almost embarrassed to say I haven't given back when this has helped so much to bring me back from financial obscurity. But sincere thanks to those that are diligent in helping others like me.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 02:55:25 GMT

...at the end, should have read 'I HAVEN'T posted a lot'

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Meanmchine — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 03:14:24 GMT

I used to have the same problem of not being able to lock / unlock my EQ file. Ever since I enrolled in their Lock and Alert program I havnt had a problem.

The 'excuss' I used to get for the lock / unlock problem was that there was some sort of address mismatch? When this would happen and if my file was locked, CCT and Credit Karma couldnt pull my EQ file at all.

Try the Lock and Alert program if you can

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Meanmchine — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 03:20:49 GMT

Forgot to mention, there are 2 ways to control your EQ file. A Credit Freeze or File Lock. I do not know the difference but you have to be careful when asking the CSR to open up your file because they might get confused

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 03:22:59 GMT

Yes, as others have stated it will still update monthly. The only lender I have that won't update monthly, is Discover; and it isn't because of my frozen scores it's because they are in the dog house and I am not using them until I get a CLI

No usage = No free fico score for me (even though I know they have it GRR! )

@j615wrote:
Will Amex’s free FICO continue to update monthly if reports are on ice?

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 12:47:06 GMT

@Wirelessbiz

Have you ever obtained hard copies of your actual credit reports from sites like annualcreditreport.com? If you did and you looked at your Experian file; in the section titled "Inquiries shared only with you" which is essentially your history of soft pulls, you will see that American Express does soft pulls and your credit report will show the specific dates those pulls were done.

Here's one example from my 2017 Experian credit report. You can see that Amex requested/soft pulled my credit report on 11/09/2017 even though I did not have any applications, CLI requests, etc. with them around that time.

Plus the EX FICO 8 score shown in my online Amex account updates roughly two or three times each month. That would not be possible if Amex were only relying on a once monthly update provided to them by Experian.

Perhaps the distinction should be made between the lending/underwriting departments and the website/marketing department. In my experience, the scores used by the lending/underwriting departments always lag the scores on the website by about a month so its plausible they do not soft pull; but the people running and updating the website definitely soft pull.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

K-in-Boston — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 14:42:55 GMT

@j615wrote:
Thanks. Ever since I froze my reports since the Equifax situation, Amex shows that it updates each month, but my score has been static which made me wonder. Good to know it’ll still update. I guess my score just really hasn’t changed recently.

Same with WF and Citi. Scores have not moved. But don’t really care with these as they’re not FICO 8.

While it's not a generic EQ FICO 08 score, Citi does provide an EQ FICO 08 score - it's just the Bankcard Enhanced variety.

@Citigroup, Inc. wrote:
Your FICO® Score is calculated based on data from Equifax using the FICO® Bankcard Score 8 model and is the same score we use, among other information, to manage your account. This model has a FICO® Score range from 250 through 900.

Also, +1 on the Amex soft pull. They pull me several times a month.

Re: Will Amex FICO update with reports frozen?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 19:09:02 GMT

@CreditCuriositywrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I no longer see my Citi score as Eq is froze but is Pita to unfreeze and is the bane of my existance Cant view my Fico 9 from Navy either. Penfed doesnt e en want to post my Fico9 , so to Equihack i say, go uber your inner Barclays
Strange you are having issues with PenFed/Navy/Citi as they are all EQ.. My scores posts just fine and have a perma freeze on EQ whether I want one or not (my files is all hosed with EQ and they can't seem to get it right after months of complaints by CFPB, hours of calls, etc..). Look them up incompetence or many other words close to the same meaning in the dictionary and you will see a link to Equifax.

CC ... you hit the credit bureau on the head ... incompetence Sad you had to do what you did! Unrelated to the data breach ... they were not capable before and their leadership should all see the light at the end of a tunnel and tumble into the never land