Banks That Are Flexible With Bureau Pulls

[daveg38]

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.

[ZackAttack]

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.

[CreditCuriosity]

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@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.

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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.

[SouthJamaica]

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@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.

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No.

[ddub965]

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!

[FireMedic1]

@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.

[coldfusion]

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@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.

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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.

[UncleB]

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@ZackAttack wrote:

Hi,

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

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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.)

[UncleB]

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@CreditCuriosity wrote:

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@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.

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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.

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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.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@ZackAttack wrote:

Hi,

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

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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.)

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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.