topic Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's? in General Credit Topics

Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

DeeBee78 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 04:02:03 GMT

I'm looking at my HP's across the three bureaus and I have four on EQ, seven on TU, and TWENTY FOUR on EX.

Is there something special or different for EX that creditors like? I know that they tend to be my lowest score, so maybe they see it as a more accurate assessment of credit profile?

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

1lifeisworthit — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:29:49 GMT

This is not my experience, that everyone wants Experian.

I have one inquiry on Transunion that is over a year old, and one inquiry on Experian that is under a year, so it is still affecting my score. The last 3 that have fallen off my reports were all on Transunion. Transunion is always my lowest score.

That is very many hard pulls. Are you a credit card churner? I'm not criticizing, just curious about that. Or did you go car shopping or mortgage shopping and got a lot of inquiries all at once? if they were for the same purpose and within 2 weeks, they only have the score effect of one hard pull.

How many of them are under 12 months? Those are the ones affecting your score.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

FicoMike0 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:09:12 GMT

I think the choice of cb is by bank and region. It's not about you. Most of mine are tu.

Ditto @1lifeisworthit , you must have applied for a lot of credit. If it makes it any better, I've read that hps saturate at 9-10, so you're long past that with ex.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

GZG — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:11:28 GMT

@DeeBee78 wrote:
I'm looking at my HP's across the three bureaus and I have four on EQ, seven on TU, and TWENTY FOUR on EX.

Is there something special or different for EX that creditors like? I know that they tend to be my lowest score, so maybe they see it as a more accurate assessment of credit profile?

they come across (and are) the best run CRA, it wouldn't surprise me if their business relationships department is properly run as well, leading to more clients (banks) choosing to pull Experian

but more likely they just choose the CRA that gives them the most profitable data based on past performance, it would explain why banks pull differently based on location

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

JoeRockhead — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:18:56 GMT

The single biggest factor is the fact that more lenders use Experian for credit reporting than use Equifax or Trans Union. In turn any particular debt and payment history is more likely to appear sooner on an Experian report making it more thorough and the most up to date.

Someone may come along and say "all my accounts are on all three CRAs". Yes they are, however, using current monthly payment history as an example, it most often shows up on Experian first while the others may show NR (not reported) and doesn't show a "pays as agreed" until two or three months later.

Experian may also be cheaper, or provide better integrated software, ease of use etc...

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

Patient957 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:24:11 GMT

@DeeBee78 wrote:
I'm looking at my HP's across the three bureaus and I have four on EQ, seven on TU, and TWENTY FOUR on EX.

Is there something special or different for EX that creditors like? I know that they tend to be my lowest score, so maybe they see it as a more accurate assessment of credit profile?

Yeah, you're not the only one that finds this annoying. It could be worse, through -- all lenders could go to Capital One Style triple pulls, so it wouldn't matter. So at least there's that.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

1lifeisworthit — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 22:34:43 GMT

@FicoMike0 wrote:
@1lifeisworthit , you must have applied for a lot of credit. If it makes it any better, I've read that hps saturate at 9-10, so you're long past that with ex.

Well, I'm in my 60s, so yeah, I suppose I've applied for credit a time or two in all my decades...

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

FicoMike0 — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:28:01 GMT

@1lifeisworthit hps fall off after 24 months.

My status is 3 ex, 3 eq, 8 tu.

Usb, chase, wells and navy are all tu for me.

I find tu, the one with the most hps, tends to be my lowest. Biggest hp penalty, lowest score, funny how math works.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

DXness — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:24:29 GMT

EX is consistently my highest FICO 8 score and I also live in a state where it constantly gets pulled, so I am happy about that, lol. EQ is consistently my lowest score and it almost never gets pulled, which I am also happy about! TU historically sits in the middle, which also rarely gets pulled, pretty much just US Bank goes with it here. Capital One wants them all, but my triple pull has aged off, leaving TU with 1 and EQ with nothing.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

crystal626 — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 06:00:09 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
The single biggest factor is the fact that more lenders use Experian for credit reporting than use Equifax or Trans Union. In turn any particular debt and payment history is more likely to appear sooner on an Experian report making it more thorough and the most up to date.

Someone may come along and say "all my accounts are on all three CRAs". Yes they are, however, using current monthly payment history as an example, it most often shows up on Experian first while the others may show NR (not reported) and doesn't show a "pays as agreed" until two or three months later.

Experian may also be cheaper, or provide better integrated software, ease of use etc...

I've always viewed this as Experian just being the first to update, not creditors choosing to prioritize Experian.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

Lou-natic — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:57:08 GMT

My most often pulled score is TU by far. I will say EQ overall seems to be my least pulled and EX is in the number two position. The only time I've had EQ pulled is for the mortgage where they (at least did until very recently) pull everybody and Cap1 who is also a triple pull monster.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

JoeRockhead — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 13:24:28 GMT

@crystal626 wrote:
I've always viewed this as Experian just being the first to update, not creditors choosing to prioritize Experian.

To add to my original post:

Many major card issuers do prioritize Experian more often than the others when evaluating applications, which in turn drives earlier reporting and quicker refresh of activity.

For example, in a dataset of real card applications across the biggest U.S. issuers:

American Express pulled Experian ~93 % of the time
Chase pulled Experian ~62 %
Citi used Experian in ~54 %

Even Capital One, which notoriously pulls all three bureaus still pulled EX first... 64% of the time.

Taking geographical location out of the equation, here are the Inquiry Processing Totals:

Experian ~ 1.2 billion HPs processed
TransUnion ~ 1.0 billion HPs processed
Equifax ~ 900k HPs processed

The numbers say that for a majority of credit card hard inquiries, the issuer is requesting data from Experian first. That higher pull rate results in more frequent updates showing up there earlier, not just quicker processing.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

Zoostation1 — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:11:44 GMT

@JoeRockhead More used or not with C1 everything reports slower on EX for me than TU and EQ. With Amex and Discover it's roughly the same give or take a day with any of the 3, but with C1 I can cound on my Savor and VX being well behind on EX. The reporting on Discover must not be integrated yet with C1 systems since it doesn't have the same major lag that my C1 branded cards to.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

AndrewF — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 03:04:38 GMT

@DeeBee78 wrote:
I'm looking at my HP's across the three bureaus and I have four on EQ, seven on TU, and TWENTY FOUR on EX.

Is there something special or different for EX that creditors like? I know that they tend to be my lowest score, so maybe they see it as a more accurate assessment of credit profile?

Out of all my credit reports, Experian tends to have the most accurate data.

In the last five years I've had to file three disputes on TransUnion, eight on Equifax, and only one on Experian due to data that simply wasn't true, and while the others eventually fixed what I was complaining about and my credit files are within 20 points of each other on FICO 8, I think creditors can't just assume that consumers are actively watching their credit. Most people don't.

Re: Why does everyone seem to want Experian for HP's?

AndrewF — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 03:09:42 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
The single biggest factor is the fact that more lenders use Experian for credit reporting than use Equifax or Trans Union. In turn any particular debt and payment history is more likely to appear sooner on an Experian report making it more thorough and the most up to date.

Someone may come along and say "all my accounts are on all three CRAs". Yes they are, however, using current monthly payment history as an example, it most often shows up on Experian first while the others may show NR (not reported) and doesn't show a "pays as agreed" until two or three months later.

Experian may also be cheaper, or provide better integrated software, ease of use etc...

For some reason data that appears on My Equifax frequently differs from My FICO when they pull Equifax.

Just today, My FICO asked my friend security questions about which credit cards were in his Equifax and he correctly said American Express and Huntington Bank, and then the My FICO person couldn't see Huntington even though it was right there on his Equifax report on My Equifax.

It turned out that the other account they saw was Discover because I added him as an AU to my Discover which is my oldest card and Dsicover backdated his credit report to September 2020.

For some reason, My FICO sees a late payment on my Equifax report, none show up on my My Equifax, and I called Equifax and they say there are none.

I know Equifax is apparently famous for split credit reports but I doubt it happened to both of us.