AMEX Applications - Hard pull or soft pull for current account holders? Which bureau?

[Anonymous]

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@ngerasimatos wrote:

I am looking to add a few AMEX cards to my portfolio to get better travel rewards and hotel status. I currently have an AMEX Gold Rewards and a Starwood card, which I think is now the Marriot Bonvoy. If I was to apply for other cards, such as Delta, would they do a soft or hard pull? Also, what credit bureau do they prefer to use? I have all of my credit locked down so I would have to thaw out whatever bureaus they need to access. 

Thanks! 

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I was approved for 6 Amex cards and 4 denials in the last 19 months. All SP except for the first card application. 

[JackBeNimble1]

I have five Amex credit cards and one charge card, which I believe is the limit. The first time I applied for an Amex was in 2016, when it pulled from Experian. Since then, I've had a couple of hard pulls from Amex but all recently acquired cards have been soft pulls. I live in California. Not sure if it is different in other regions, but Amex typically pulls from Experian in California and probably in a lot of or most other states.